# Ultra-long exposure photography



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*2011 As A Single, Year-Long Pinhole Camera Exposure*





> A year ago, Michael Chrisman placed a pinhole camera in Toronto’s Port Lands and aimed it — as best one can aim such a camera — at the city skyline.
> 
> For 365 straight days and nights, light has crept through the pinhole, slowly building an exposure on a piece of photosensitive paper.
> 
> ...





> ...with the length of Chrisman’s exposures, the paper is extremely overexposed. There is no need to use chemicals to bring up the image. After so long, it is there on its own and visible to the naked eye.
> 
> “If I were to try to develop the paper in a traditional darkroom, the image would be lost,” said Chrisman.
> 
> Instead, he uses a scanner to capture the image from the paper, and in doing so, destroys the paper image itself. “The bright light of the scanner slowly erases the image, inch by inch, as it captures it.”


(Details at: Toronto Star _via_ Geekologie)


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## Todd (Oct 14, 2002)

That's really interesting. I did wonder, however, although Chrisman points out that putting the paper through developer would ruin it, why he doesn't put them through fixer and make the image permanent and not damaged by scanning.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

Todd said:


> That's really interesting. I did wonder, however, although Chrisman points out that putting the paper through developer would ruin it, why he doesn't put them through fixer and make the image permanent and not damaged by scanning.


He'll try that suggestion - next year


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Kinda interesting CM, but more than the photo thanks for the link to Geekologie, I browsed around it for a bit... it is quite a hoot of a site... I will be checking it out from now on.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

screature said:


> Kinda interesting CM, but more than the photo thanks for the link to Geekologie, I browsed around it for a bit... it is quite a hoot of a site... I will be checking it out from now on.


Heh - yeah, most of the stuff he posts I run into at other sites, but he does have a.. unique... sense of humour.


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