In a meeting with Kate Carr I had a thought that the light and image equivalent of a contact mic was a pinhole camera. She made me aware of her friend back home in Australia, Claire Conroy who creates pinhole camera’s in trucks and vans. This idea of amplification links to noise music and the idea of the absurdity of scale. https://www.claireconroy.net
I thought of the pinhole camera as the lowest fidelity possible within analog photography so it surprised me to see such amazing results.
I was a little reluctant to go with photography as my medium as I am not that experienced with it and I feel I haven’t been very original with it. However improvising and learning on the fly is an aspect of noise musicianship I guess and ultimately a lot of noise music all sound the same. The notion of still image at first bothered me as I have worked with video before and liked that the motion would accompany and represent sound quite well. Though looking at famous avant garde filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker, they have managed to tell a lot and capture action between the lines of still images. Also the concept of static noise may be something to explore further.
I also thought using a long exposure time I can perhaps capture motion or in the developing stage to scratch or add onto the physical film itself. Also thinking of how the photos would be displayed if I used a projector I could play with vibration or turning motions thinking of it as a light sculpture. If i managed to get a hold of a vintage film slide projector and found a way of automating the changing slides I would love the physicality of that and the sound it makes as it shifts. a very slow ticking like a clock.
I may not succeed in making a pinhole camera but want to pursue this DIY process as I felt making something more tactile in my practice would be more satisfying. Which is what I am doing for my second project – a light sensitive noise box/instrument. You could even think of it as a sound camera – turning light into sound rather than image.