Make Your Own Pinhole Camera Workshop


Sophie Willison
Sophie Willison
Instagram followers 9k followers
5.0 (4)

3 hours Class size 1 to 4 guests    

  $180 (Afterpay & PayPal Pay in 4 available)

Design and construct your own handcrafted pinhole camera as you explore the raw, process-driven side of analogue image-making.
This workshop is perfect for creatives, photographers, and anyone curious about slowing things down and making images the old-school way.
We kick things off with a quick intro to pinhole photography, camera mechanics, and how light actually forms an image. Then it’s straight into building your camera. You’ll choose from a curated collection of metal tins (or bring your own if you want something custom). From there, you’ll learn how to make your camera completely light-tight, craft a secure lid, and create your “lens” using aluminium foil, a drill, and a needle.
You’ll learn how to mix your own darkroom chemistry from scratch, including the correct measurements, ratios, and temperatures needed for the developing process. Once your pinhole camera is ready to use, you’ll load it with a precisely cut sheet of Ilford darkroom paper. Then we’ll head outside to make your first exposure. You’ll learn how to judge exposure times for your camera, factoring in its size, the distance between the paper and the pinhole, and the weather and lighting conditions on the day.
Then we take it to the darkroom: you’ll learn how to process your photographs, creating pinhole negatives and turning them into positive contact prints. Expect to walk away with 3–5 original analogue images and a camera you built entirely by hand.
What you’ll learn:
  • How pinhole cameras work and why they’re still so powerful
  • The fundamentals of light, exposure, and timing
  • How to build a functional camera from everyday materials
  • How to correctly expose and process Ilford photographic paper
  • Darkroom skills, including developing and contact printing
What you'll get
  • A reusable, handmade pinhole camera
  • Understand exposure from a hands-on, practical perspective
  • Create multiple unique analogue prints
  • Gain confidence in darkroom techniques with personalised guidance
  • Build a deeper appreciation for slow, experimental photography
  • Connect with like-minded creatives and spark new artistic connections
Location

90 May St, St Peters NSW

This venue is a short walk from St Peters station (400m).

Make Your Own Pinhole Camera Workshop location
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Your teacher

Sophie Willison
Sophie Willison

Instagram followers 9k followers
5.0 (4)
female Women-owned

Sophie Willison is a freelance artist passionate about teaching. She has been self publishing her own arts and photography magazine, terra firma, for almost a decade, bringing together artists from all over the world to collectively realise an annual theme.
Sophie has a keen interest in the arts including analogue photography, design, publishing, curating and editing and is always working on exciting new projects.
She has guest lectured and given workshops at a variety of institutions from Westminster University, Guildford College and Parliament Hill school. She has run and successfully delivered workshops as part of programmes based in Normandy, France and Oxford, UK. Most recently being invited to design workshops in Sydney, Australia for contemporary cultural institutions such as Mosman Art Gallery, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre.

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