Register 99 Seats Remaining

Catching the Sun: an Introduction to Solargraphy

Join experimental photographer Christian Fiedler for an in-depth overview of “solargraphy,” the art of using pinhole cameras to capture the sun’s arc over our everyday world.

Discover the art of using pinhole cameras to capture the sun’s arc over our everyday world. A solargraph combines film photography, the sun, and weather to make unique images. Solargraphy is about as simple as a camera gets: a can or small box, a tiny pinhole, and one sheet of photo paper. No lens, no shutter, no batteries, and no film development. You put it somewhere and leave it for weeks or months; on every sunny day the sun traces another arc across the paper, and cloudy days leave gaps, so the finished image also records that season’s weather.

Presenter Christian Fiedler will share an in-depth overview of “solargraphy,” the art of using pinhole cameras to capture the sun’s arc over our everyday world. Christian is a member of the NJ Pinhole Club and has been making solargraphs for about six years. His work includes Vermont covered bridges and lighthouses from Maine to Georgia, some of it done with the National Park Service. He’ll explain how it works, show finished images next to the homemade 3D-printed cameras that made them, and show how you can build your own from a soda can at home if you want to give it at try.

No experience needed. Curious kids and grown-ups are welcome!

Christian Fiedler is an experimental photographer from New Jersey whose experience ranges from pinhole solargraphy to vintage Cirkut cameras to subterranean photography. Drawn to the overlooked and the hidden, he explores unseen perspectives on the world. He was the first Artist-in-Park at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park and an artist-in-residence at Orient Point Light. His projects can be seen at PrimitivePines.com.

Upcoming events