Technical Statement

Harris’ pinhole camera is a homemade oatmeal cereal box with a precisely measured hole made in metal tape and attached to the box. The interior is fitted to hold 4x5 Tri-x film in film holders. The aperture is three inches from the film plane.

Based on lighting, the exposure may require 14 flashes of light, (subtle movements record as blur). The homemade opening as opposed to a lens unpredictably blurs and softens the photograph. Because of the extreme wide angle, the center of the image receives four times more light than the edges. Harris compensates by using lighting in non-traditional ways. With all the variables with which she works, Harris keeps her models (friends and family) in a small area of her studio where even groups of 6 must fit within the 50 inches of her camera and the backdrop.

Penny Harris, April, 1998

"The speeding train causes me to see the foreground in a blurred, stretched, streaked disappearing way. I want to stop. I know that there is much to see behind the surface blur. Moving my gaze outward, the horizon snaps sharply into focus. I feel a loss. The mystery disappears. Compelled to return to the foreground, I am intrigued with this strangely familiar environment.

And so it is with family, and those who may be intimates, that we find our vision most blurred. Again, I want to stop. I want to look beneath the surface of this domestic landscape.

Looking at our closest relationships, asking ourselves where and how we fit in tells us about ourselves. Perhaps a question sinks below the surface and disturbs thoughts long dormant. Now floating to the top, they surprise us. Harboring dreams of ideal relationships is part of my American mythology. I was safely encapsulated in this dream by American movies, TV, and childhood readings. However, reality came with its ambivalence, ambiguity and paradox. The flood of conflicting emotions that followed demanded that I re-examine the dream. In this photographic search for my truth, I created a history of hopes and dreams and disappointments. The multiple images express the paradox of what is there and not there at the same time."