Photography, regardless of your camera of choice, typically involves a lot of expensive equipment. While each commercial camera offers its own range of benefits and results, if you've got a little time to get more involved in the process, pinhole photography is a fun and cheap way to capture an image and learn about how photography works.

A pinhole camera can be made out of any receptacle; big or small, it's basically just a lightproof container for your film with one small hole (a pinhole) which is uncovered to expose your film to a flash of light. The light passes through the pinhole to capture a reversed image onto your photo paper, which will appear when processed. For a more accurate definition and scientific explanation, read photo.net's really, really long description. The results of pinhole photography are not usually predictable; the images tend to be polarized and distorted with light leaks. For best results, try many different homemade cameras to learn what works best!


Photo Location

To learn how to make your own camera, although there are many methods, here's a fairly basic tutorial. The more lightproof your camera, the more crisp the results will be. For more consistent results, pick up a cheap Holga camera and make your Holga into a pinhole camera. Whatever your results are, be sure to share them with fellow photographers to learn about your camera and how your next can be improved. The SG photography group is a great place to start.

Magic Lantern is a series of thematic, experimental film events in Providence showing the work of independent filmmakers and animators. It is one example of a growing movement of film created and shown outside of the traditional theater format. For a little more of a glimpse into alternative and experimental cinema, possibly in your town, check out Flicker.

However, I'll leave the film commentary up to my fellow SG editor Chris_Gore; the reason why I'm drawing attention to this Rhode Island event is to showcase the amazing posters contributing filmmakers have created for the series. Browse the poster gallery online to see original works, screenprinted and sold at absurdly affordable prices ($12 ea + s/h) to fund future Magic Lantern events.


Photo Location: Artwork by Carrie Collier

Note to Spike and Mike fiends – there is definite and palpable art lurking in the ten short animated films compiled on Other Cinema's Anxious Animation DVD, but there’s no need to get all Stalin-esque and reach for your revolver at the mention of the word.

While some of the shorts are dense and, on occasion, obtuse, all are visually fascinating and even beautiful. The dizzying array of patterns and textures in Janie Geiser’s “Immer Zu” evokes the chiaroscuro lighting of classic film noir. Lewis Klahr's celebrated cut-and-paste technique manipulates advertising and pop culture images from the ‘40s and ‘50s to suggest Superman sidekick Jimmy Olsen’s exploration of his homosexual side and the pressures exerted on women by society. Jim Trainor's simple hand-drawn ink sketches imbue his animal subjects – bats in a 14th century Mayan temple in “The Bats,” and a bovine prehistoric animal in “Moschops” – with surprising tenderness and humanity.

But if all that makes your head swim, you can also groove on the manic energy of Eric Henry, Syd Garon, and Rodney Ascher who, as Henry Garon Ascher, bring a great deal of irreverent humor and cutting-edge style to the disc, especially with “Somebody Goofed,” a hilariously dead-pan adaptation of a fire-and-brimstone comic by the notorious religious cartoonist Jack Chick, and “Spokes from the Wheel of Torment,” which sets the apocalyptic art of 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch to dancing with the weirdcore music of Buckethead. For those who like their animation with an adventurous flavor, Anxious Animationis a satisfying and self-contained festival unto itself, and best of all, there aren't any drunks in the audience or high merch prices to endure.