Pinhole Photography with the UWF Art Department

June 8, 2026

Camp Description

In this hands-on summer camp, students will design and build a series of DIY pinhole cameras that reveal photography as an optical system rather than a neutral recording device. 

Students will explore how images are formed through light, time, and distance, and how small changes in camera structure can cause reality to bend, repeat, or fragment. The course emphasizes both normal and abnormal image-making, encouraging students to examine where photographic truth breaks down. Projects will include producing ghost images, curved and distorted spaces, fly’s-eye views, multiple-image portraits, and kaleidoscopic portraits that challenge the idea that a photograph simply shows what was there.

All images will be developed using traditional black-and-white darkroom techniques. Students will expose, process, and print their photographs by hand, experiencing how images slowly emerge through chemical and physical processes rather than instant digital feedback. The darkroom becomes a laboratory where perception, patience, and chance intersect.

By the end of the camp, students will have created a collection of original black-and-white photographs and developed a deeper understanding of photography as a system that constructs vision rather than simply capturing it.

No prior photography experience is required.

Students Will Explore: 

• DIY pinhole camera construction
  
• Normal and abnormal photographic images
  
• Ghost images and extended exposure effects
  
• Curved, warped, and distorted image spaces
  
• Fly’s-eye and multi-lens visual systems
  
• Multiple-image and kaleidoscopic portraits
  
• Traditional black-and-white film development and printing

Registration Opens March 4

On Friday, camper families are invited to a short showcase at 2:45 p.m. in their camp classrooms. Afternoon extended care is not available on Fridays.

For more information, review the Explore Camps Parent Handbook.