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If your children are asking you to buy them a digital camera and you think it is not yet time for them to have one, it is best to make one of your own. Yes, you got that right; cameras can be made out of the simplest materials and can really take photos. A pinhole camera may not be the digital camera your children want but they sure will have as much fun with it as they will with an expensive one. The photos taken by pinhole cameras however are blurry but with enough practice you will be able to get sharper images.

To make a pinhole camera you would need 2 small cardboard boxes. These 2 boxes should be of the same size. You would need a pin, black paint, aluminium foil, black electrical tape, a pair of scissors and glossy paper. Once you got everything ready, call the kids and tell them you will be making a pinhole camera. The first thing to do is to pain the inside parts of our cardboard boxes with the black paint. When they’ve dried, cut a square right on the center of one box. After that get your pin and put a hole on the aluminium foil. When done you should tape your alumiunium foil where the square is located. Cut off the area right on the opposite end of your first box and then use your glossy paper to cover the end of the box going to the next box. The second box should have a viewing hole right at the glossy paper. Once done you should use the electrical tape to cover any gaps in the cardboard boxes. Your kids will be able to see the world upside down by using their new pinhole “camera”. They will not be able to print the photos they take though unless you take time to study how you can process the film inside or use photographic paper.

Mike Thompson and Jamie House collaborated to create the “Pinhole Parcel Project,” which started in 2005 and still continues today. The project documents an experiment with pinhole cameras that will be exposed throughout it’s journey through the mail. Every trace of light the camera encounters during its journey through the mail is recorded on the photographic negative, creating highly unpredictable, abstract imagery. It takes days, maybe even weeks depending where you live in the world for mail to arrive at a destination, so sometimes these pinhole cameras are being exposed for hundreds of hours!

Here is how it works:

1. Take a can (any soda can, soup can, etc)
2. Document the place you found the can by taking a picture with a digital camera (72 dpi) and emailing it to the Pinhole Parcel Project people at info@pinholeparcelproject.com. Include details of the date, location of the can, and country.
3. Send the can in the mail, put a return address (important) to:
   Pinhole Litter Project
   1 oxford Villas
   St Stephens
   Saltash
   Cornwall
   England
   PL12 4AP
4. Pinhole Parcel Project will convert the can into a pinhole camera and return it to you.
5. When you get the can (now a pinhole) back, place the camera on the ground where you found it originally.
6. Open the black tape shutter, (don’t touch camera while exposing) and expose for 40 seconds in direct sunlight or 4 minutes on an overcast day or in the shade.
7. Place the shutter back on, and send the camera back to Pinhole Parcel Project for processing of the image.

It’s really an ingenious idea. In November of 2005, images from the first 18 months of the project were exhibited at Euroart Studios, Tottenham, London. A selection of these can be viewed on the Pinhole Parcel Project website. Send in your can today to join in on the experiment!