Year-long Exposure of Toronto skyline with a Pinhole Camera

A year ago, Michael Chrisman placed a pinhole camera in Toronto’s Port Lands and aimed it at the city skyline. On New Year’s Eve day, Chrisman  ventured out to retrieve the camera and exposed paper inside. “I’m thrilled with it,” Chrisman said Sunday. “It’s a very dreamy photo. This one has a soft and kind of foggy feel.” [via The Star]


The 31,536,000 second exposure shows the movement of the sun throughout the course of one year. Pretty amazing I must say. Photosensitive paper was used inside the pinhole camera and due to the extremely long exposure no chemical developer was needed. The image was visible to the naked eye. Chrisman scanned the image later to digitize it but the scanning process effectively obliterate the original print. As Chrisman explains “The bright light of the scanner slowly erases the image, inch by inch, as it captures it.”


“Time is always a major component in photography, but is usually dealt with in fractions of a second...Exploring the limits of the medium is part of what drew me to attempting this photograph." ~ Michael Chrisman

Chrisman secured his pinhole camera with tape and bricks. A few of his pinhole cameras have been nicked in the past so he tries to conceal them as best he can.


why not give it a try? Here's a how-to Vid on one way to make a pinhole camera. A paint can or large PVC pipe works well too.

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