Beth I, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth II, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth III, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth I, San Francisco Hot Springs 1995
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Beth II, San Francisco Hot Springs 1995
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Beth III, San Francisco Hot Springs 1995
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Beth IV, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth IV, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth V, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth V, San Francisco Hot Springs 1995
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Beth VI, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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Beth VII, Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch 1995
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| Technical Notes
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The first time I saw a pinhole image, around 1982, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. At that time I was working with normal cameras, making long exposures in an attempt to extend the moment. I was also working with plastic lens cameras because I loved the elusive quality of the image. Pinhole combines both of these features in a single image. The pinhole camera sees the world as I would like to see it; I love the dark mystery of the image and the feeling that a profound memory is being evoked visually. After almost 20 years of making pinhole images, the process is still magical for me.
About 6 years ago I started making zone plate images. The zone plate, which was invented by Lord Rayleigh in the 1870s, is composed of concentric opaque and transparent rings that resemble a target. This target is photographed onto film, which then becomes the zone plate and is put on the camera in place of a lens or pinhole. The opaque rings block light rays that would have cancelled out one another, and the clear rings allow only those light rays needed to create a coherent image to pass. Because the zone plate focuses to a point, it must match the focal length of the camera.
Since a zone plate diffracts light, a zone plate image is closely related to a pinhole image. One advantage to using zone plates is that the exposure times are about 7 times faster than those made with a pinhole. Zone plate negatives tend to look very soft with low contrast, yet they are not like soft focus lens imagery and their look is not at all like pinhole imagery. The beauty within a zone plate image is the recognizable "halo" or "glow" surrounding any strong contrast edge. Foliage such as grasses and leaves under certain lighting conditions may resemble infrared imagery. Zone plate imagery is a fairly unexplored area of photography.
All Images ŠNancy Spencer
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