One of my lifelong interests has been photography. I spend almost as much time with it as I do with pottery. It only seems natural that the two passions should come together, and these ceramic cameras are the result.

These are fully functional pinhole cameras. They have no lens, light meter, viewfinder, or automatic shutter, and yet they can produce gallery quality images. I use black and white photo paper in them for the negatives. The negatives are either 4 x 5 inches, or 5 x 8 inches.

Pinhole camera photography offers creative possibilities that can't be duplicated with high tech cameras. There is the added satisfaction of making your own camera from scratch. I have a separate website that is just about my pinhole camera photography.

This camera was completed in 2007. It's made of stoneware, fired to cone 10, with a post firing application of 23k gold leaf. It uses a 4 x 5 inch photo paper negative. The camera is 22cm tall.

Here is a test image made with this camera.

This is a detail of the camera above showing the front with the shutter removed. The shutter in this case is a little thrown piece like a tiny lid. It fits into the opening to block the light from the interior of the camera. That silverish looking metal has a .3mm pinhole in the middle which lets light inside the camera to the negative.

This is another ceramic box camera which uses a 4 x 5 inch negative. It has a combination of sprayed glazes on the outside. All of the ceramic cameras have a matte black glaze on the inside. I like the organic look of these cameras which contrasts with our usual notions of cameras being machine-made, high tech devices. This camera is 21.5cm tall.

An example from this camera

This camera is basically a thrown jar that has been cut in half, with a slab attached to the open side. It uses a 5 x 8 inch negative. It has a cobalt decoration that has been sprayed through stencils. This camera is 23.7cm tall.

An example from this camera

This is one of the earlier ceramic cameras, but it is one of my favourites, and most often used. Similar in design to the camera shown above, but with a more open curve to the body. It uses a 5 x 8 inch photo paper negative. This camera is 18cm tall.

I have a small (one meter square!) darkroom in my home where I develop the negatives.

An example from this camera