I had a great time with the girlfriend over the weekend. We watched that Julia Louis-Dreyfus film You Hurt My Feelings (honestly, I think I’m becoming a big fan of A24 films), we purchased some bird feeders at the Delmar backyard bird store Wildbird Junction, and we had a very enjoyable time together.
After all that, I decided to ask her a question.
Would she let me use her backyard for some experimental photography?
I shall explain.
Several years ago, I helped a Kickstarter program that produced the Solarcan, a passive pinhole photography camera that’s basically photo paper inside a sealed beer can. You leave the camera in an open area for several months, and then scan the picture to reveal the sun’s yearly crossing of the horizon. I did this a few years ago, capturing this award-winning image at St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands.
“Where would you put it?” she asked.
“I can attach it to a tree in your back yard,” I said, “where it can capture as much sunlight as possible.”
“Maybe down by the utility pole in the corner of the backyard,” she replied. “That might be a better spot. I have some duct tape in the garage, you can use that to attach it to the utility pole.”
A few minutes later … this Solarcan was securely strapped to the utility pole. And as long as National Grid doesn’t have an issue with this … we should all be happy.
Can you see that tiny little spec under the “r” in Solarcan? That’s the pinhole, and it’s aimed so that it will capture the sun. Or at last I hope it will capture the sun in the right spot on the encased photo paper.
And I’m going to resist from taking this can down – for at least one year. I have a feeling I will get super-swank images in this shot, which requires a ton of patience. One year from now, there should be sweeping solar trails on that photo paper inside.
Listen … you can NEVER get started on Competition Season 2024 too early. ๐
Chuck The Writer 
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