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During art school (Utrecht, the Netherlands) one of Bethany's main activities was creating settings, which she then photographed. With an ordinary camera the images remained too distant. Her objective was to create a "realistic" imaginary world, in which one can supposedly wander around. While the actual size of these models makes it impossible, Pinhole photography is able to capture this feeling.
Her inspiration stems from objects she may find or materials that appeal to her. Often her ideas contain elements from fairy-tales. The story is neither conventional nor predictable though, the images can be interpreted in many ways.
Being a Pinhole photographer, Bethany's view of the world is quite deformed. Her everyday surroundings are looked at with a Pinhole eye. Sugar cubes are like bricks and chicken-feet are tree-trunks. Inspiration comes from many sources. |
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A t l a n t i s S e t t i n g |
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Bethany's pictures radiate a fairy-tale atmosphere. A close-up perspective causes an unusual reality to emerge. Because of this, lifeless materials come to life while living matter is taken out of its ordinary context and is transformed into an almost static still life.
She primarily works with ordinary materials; candle wax to build an Ice Palace and colored candy for a colorful dollhouse, while thousands of sugar cubes are used to construct the King Frog's castle. Cotton balls, asparagus and raspberries, leaves and twigs are all hardly recognizable in these strange worlds. However, the inhabitants feel right at home. King Frog, the Duck, butterflies and bumblebees, fish, seahorses, shrimp and even the chicken leg all tell their own story. Seemingly appropriate in their fairy-tale surroundings. |
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As in any fairytale, next to the good and the beautiful there is the bad and the ugly. Bethany likes to use frightening elements in her images. Sometimes for the purpose of contrast, but also to confront the viewer with prejudgments. A beetle or a wasp viewed close up can be experienced as something friendly and beautiful, while a harmless little fish can become a horrible monster threatening the idyllic Atlantis. Apparent splendor with a dark side.
Another returning theme is humor. For example the four shrimp indulging themselves with large glasses of beer (Biergarten). The same group of friends can be seen treading water in the swimming pool of the Sugar Palace. It's one big dollhouse.
To create the illusion of space, Bethany uses mirrors. This complicates matters, for it causes the camera to appear in the picture. The camera therefore is a part of the setting and is fit to blend in with the surroundings. Unrecognizable for the viewer, but essential for the image.
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About Pinhole
The models/settings, often not larger than a reasonably sized box, are captured by means of Pinhole photography.
To create a Pinhole picture, you need a Pinhole camera. This is a camera without a lens; the light reaches the film through a tiny hole (the size of a pinpoint). Many objects can be turned into cameras; boxes and cans are extremely useful.
Bethany's first camera was a matchbox, which she used to create black and white images of a very small model (the Glass House). |
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This is one of Bethany's favorite aspects of pinhole: building a camera of which the shape and measurements correspond with that what you need. Nowadays Bethany uses modified cameras, because of the comfort of a film transport-mechanism. She rids these cameras of lens and shutter and inserts an ordinary piece of foil with a small hole in its center.
Another unusual aspect is that no button is pressed, just remove the cap and let the light do its work. The exposure times are much longer than with ordinary photography. A picture taken from within a model takes ten minutes on average. Outside in bright daylight exposure times are shorter, but still several seconds.
A perfect pinhole is essential for a sharp image; round without any irregularities. Bethany makes them by sticking a needle through a piece of copper foil; this hole is then checked under a microscope and smoothed with sandpaper.
Pinhole photography can create surprising results; it's a technique with endless possibilities of experimentation.
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