This is a pretty incredible story of an 8-year-long photo exposure:
A photograph thought to be the longest exposure image ever taken has been discovered inside a beer can at the University of Hertfordshire’s Bayfordbury Observatory.
The image was taken by Regina Valkenborgh, who began capturing it towards the end of her MA Fine Art degree at the University of Hertfordshire in 2012. It shows 2,953 arced trails of the sun, as it rose and fell between summer and winter over a period of eight years and one month.
Regina was interested in capturing images without the use of modern technology; in this case using a beer can lined with photographic paper as a pinhole camera. She placed a can on one of the Observatory’s telescopes, which had been forgotten about until September this year when it was finally removed by the Observatory’s Principal Technical officer, David Campbell.
I thought I recalled a story ca, 2000 of a 4-decades pinhole image. Again, many star tracks.
Pinhead er I mean pinhole photography is dazzlingly simple. Take an old Quaker ® oatmeal carton. cut hole in middle of side. Poke pinhole in tinfoil; tape foil square inside carton, and a paper flap on outside. In darkroom, slide sheet of slow photo paper into carton, opposite pinhole. Secure carton. Open flap to expose paper at desired times. Be patient. If impatient, use faster paper.
BTW pinholing is great for extreme closeups or perspective tricks because a “pinhole camera” provides infinite depth-of-field – everything looks sharp while movement disappears.
