Pinhole Photography Will Be Explored at OCC

A group exhibition of pinhole photography and the handmade cameras used to create it will be on display Jan. 31 through March 6 at Orange Coast College’s Art Gallery.

The exhibition, titled “Oracular Orifices,” features works by 13 artists dedicated to the distinct signature image of the camera obscura.

The pinhole camera obscura requires neither lens, mirror nor other optical components and can be constructed from any “light-tight” container that has a singular pinhole aperture made with a pushpin or laser or other device.

OCC photography instructor Peggy Ann Jones, curator of the exhibit, has included her own laser-drilled camera and Japanese photographic “O Jizo Sama” shrine in the exhibit.

Eric Renner, author and publisher of the Pinhole Journal and considered a “guru” of pinhole photography, will display his underwater pinhole camera and the abstract images it produced.

Other artists and photographers featured in the show include Marcus Kaiser, who used the Berlin Wall as a pinhole camera, and Belgium-born Dominique Stroobant, who is known for his sun tracings and other observations and recordings of solar eclipses too bright to scrutinize with the naked eye.

An opening reception is planned for Feb. 2 from noon to 2 p.m. at the OCC Art Gallery. Photo artist Jo Babcock will be on hand with his Volkswagen bus a la camera obscura titled, “Lens on Wheels.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, Jones will lecture on pinhole photography Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. at OCC. She will conduct a workshop at the college on Feb. 23 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call the Fine Arts Department at (714) 432-5629 or the Art Gallery at (714) 432-5725.