Lens-less capture and emerging moving imaging technologies: An investigation into the ways in which digital pinhole capture and advances in lens-less capture in imaging technologies may affect the form and content of moving images

Williams, Lucietta

Abstract

This thesis is a practice-led enquiry that investigates the creative potential of pinhole video, a new imaging technique which is undocumented elsewhere. Although fixed pinhole image capture has been possible since the advent of chemical photography in the 1830s, it currently occupies a niche area maintained by artists and enthusiasts working in analogue rather than digital photography and film. Through the researcher's creative practice – a set of research-driven experiments using digital movie cameras combined with pinhole apertures and documented through autoethnographic method – the thesis establishes a guide to the creative capabilities of pinhole video capture and how a lens-less video aesthetic might be generated. The researcher’s practice is contextualised in relation to the work of two moving image artists working in 16mm film: Christopher Harris and Jennifer Nightingale, and also Jason Joseffer, a professional cinematographer who works in video. It is informed by conceptual frameworks derived from Media Archaeology, remediation and historical enquiries into the nature of perception by, in particular, Jonathan Crary. The investigation also encompasses the relationship between this lens-less video practice and existing digital image capture, particularly motion capture using the Lightfield camera’s three-dimensional technology, and situates these within changing definitions of the ‘camera’ and the ‘lens’.

The thesis contributes new knowledge and a craft method via the insights provided in the experimentation and reflective observation of how pinhole video capture is achieved, thereby demonstrating the range and creative potential of video works produced by this method. It argues that although pinhole video technique and scientific lens-less imaging technologies approach image capture from different directions, both are important attempts to open out new possibilities that enlarge perception and increase understanding of how light operates, offering an exciting artistic potential that can be taken further.

Citation

Williams, L. Lens-less capture and emerging moving imaging technologies: An investigation into the ways in which digital pinhole capture and advances in lens-less capture in imaging technologies may affect the form and content of moving images. (Thesis). University of the West of England. Retrieved from https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6726592

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 27, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 13, 2021
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6726592
• Award Date: May 13, 2021