Gonzo – Matchbox Photography
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- In: Interviews, Shuttercrack
Photography made a huge transition since the first camera. Back in the day taking one photo could easily take minutes. Nowadays walking around with a hyper digital unit around your neck seems the standard. The pace of life has increased and everything has to be finished in the blink of an eye. But there is still a special kind of breed out there who manages to take it easy. They go by the name of pinhole photographers, their tools of the trade are homemade cameras made of pure love. Sometimes an old shoebox or milk pack serves as the basis of the camera. But living in the era of portability and convenience those cameras are just too big to carry around with you. If you like your camera compact so it fits in your pocket but still has that je ne sais quoi, say hello to matchbox photography.
On shuttercrack.com a matchbox pinhole photo was selected, we dived into this world and started our investigation (check out www.matchboxpinhole.com, runned by Alspix). We also came across a photographer in the Flickr Matchbox photography group who goes by the name of Gonzo. We were amazed by the idea that there are still people out there who take the effort to make their own cameras, and then wait 15 minutes for the film to expose. His photos are amazing so the logical next step was to do an interview.
Who is Gonzo and where are you from?
I`m an Art and Photography teacher from the U.K.
Matchbox pinhole photography is not a point and shoot style, what is that little something that makes it so interesting to do?
Unpredictability is the joy of pinholing. In your head you see what you want and the end result is always slightly different to that vision. Some of the best images are created by complete accident and some of the best planned ones are a complete mess.
How many rolls of film did you have to waste before your grasshopper DIY skills reached Mr. Miyagi status?
I got through about 5 or 6 rolls with either adjustments to the cameras or starting from scratch between each one. Catching flys with chopsticks was easy after that.
Looking at your portfolio we only come across photos taken with homemade cameras. Pre-fab just doesn’t do it for you?
I have digi cameras and they serve their purpose but with homemade cameras the satisfaction of creating an image you are pleased with far surpasses anything digital can do for me. Anyone with the same digital camera as you can produce an identical image. Homemade is a unique creation to you and the camera; it can be on a par with drawing or painting.
It seems like matchbox (and pinhole in general) is driven on trial and error. Did you ever reach a point that you were like okay for now on I am going digital?
It didnt take too long to get the hang of using pinhole cameras. The main frustration to begin with is high street lab technicians. Forget that and scan the negatives yourself. In that respect digital has its place for editing and finishing the images just as you want them.
Standing for 3 minutes next to a matchbox on a tripod out on the streets could look weird. When out shooting do curious people come up to you?
It does look weird. They look and stare but in the lovely paranoid age we live in most people’s thoughts seem to go “ ?, Bomb?, nope, shrug “. Old people like to ask questions but in London not many people want to talk to strangers.
Do you scout your locations and sceneries beforehand or do you always have your trusty matchbox by your side?
These days i always seem to have a pinhole camera of some sort loaded and in my bag. Most of the places in my flickr pages i already know though, so i return there to try to better previous shots.
In today’s 24 hours economy and where the pace of life makes you put 48 hours in a day, did you ever find yourself running late for appointments because you were waiting for the matchbox magic to complete?
Nope. Just annoying people I`m out with when i ask for two minutes to take a picture.
Any favourite matchbox brands to get freaky with?
anything with a nice picture on it 
