Somikon Super 8 Scanner

I have a super 8 scanner now!!!! It scans nicely, just got it today and checked it with a very old ORWO film. It took about 20 minutes to clickclickclick one roll of super 8 film. The quality is good! It says HD and I think it comes pretty close. Not for the big screen but for the smaller one it seems to be more than enough!!! (the film was not so sharp anyway …)

28 Pinhole Photos – 2 Months Later

Remember? >> “The developed images are returned to their place of origin, hung up there and they remain there until they are destroyed, soaked or weathered – kiss the moment, it’s not a pyramid!”

I went there yesterday to see what has become of them … if they are still there … and yes, they are!
Some have withered in a very interesting way, the one of the water connection thing looks like a runpath for little creature!
Oh I love the title: “Runpath For Little Creatures” … 🙂 … will it be the title of my upcoming book???

Some Dresden Glimpses

I was in Dresden, only 2 days, only one and a half hour away from Berlin, by train. The train continued directly to Budapest. I felt East European!
There’s a little film festival, called Schmalfilmtage / Small Format Days. This year very empty which is a bit weird since lockdown is over and I thought people would happily attend any event … but maybe we have all become a bit tired in our bubbles …
Anyway: it was lovely to be somewhere else!

It‘s A Brownie!

I found a new toy. A Brownie! As simple as a pinhole camera but with a lens instead of a hole. One step higher towards complication!

It is meant for the use of Kodak-special 620 film rolls that don’t exist any more. You can use 120 film but you will have to roll it on those 620 spools which you must find somewhere …
Too complicated, I cut photo paper to the right size and stuffed it in, squeezed it in the back door frame!

And then I thought why not trying to develop the paper pieces positive instead of negative? It’s a far more complicated process but it’s possible. There’s even an eco alternative … so I mixed some coffee, soda and vitamin c for the two developers and some hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid for the strong bleach.

Luckily I am staying on the countryside right now at my friend’s place, we drive around, find beautiful spots and click the Brownie!

And then we spend hours in the darkroom polishing the recipe, heating the soup, playing with developing time, trying not to sniff the stinky bleach, getting completely black papers and some very pale, some with weird dots and stripes, but some come out funky magical and beautiful!

28 Pinhole Photos

… are hanging now outside in the green! In the Silent Green – a fantastic culture center venue in Berlin! It is part of a gigantic 1 month exhibition: THE GARDEN. CINEMATICS OF THE SOIL, dedicated to the life and work of the British filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman. … see here click click!
I am a micro exhibition! I wrote about it: “Kiss the Moment, it’s Not a Pyramid!
Over the course of many days, Dagie Brundert is out and about on the silent green grounds, taking pinhole camera photos in the garden. Negatives. One every now and then. With her trusty, much-travelled Illy coffee can, she lets chance and mood guide her, looking for spots where beauty beats banality by a mile to capture just one moment. For a few seconds. The developed images are returned to their place of origin, hung up there and they remain there until they are destroyed, soaked or weathered – kiss the moment, it’s not a pyramid!”
Let it begin!

The Pyramid Film Is Online

Kiss the Moment, it’s not a Pyramid! (Göteborg)
2021 • 4.21 min • Super 8

A documentary. Klick here to watch it on Youtube.

I make positive prints from my pinhole negatives, I develop them in a specific soup that is related to the object: Magnolia soup, tree leaf soup, cucumber pickle soup … and in Kompostol, a developer made from food waste.
A person’s leftover food of one day makes one liter of developer and develops about 6 photos.

I take something from nature and I give it back.

I hang the photo in the place where it was taken. It remains there until it gets stolen, rained down, or weathered.

It is in transit, it will disappear, but that doesn’t matter, the flowers are wilting as well and the trees are losing their leaves.
Nothing is forever, but for a while it is just there, delightful: kiss the moment, it’s not a pyramid!

Click the image, watch the film!!!!!