Pinhole section
 Camera Obscura

The camera is just a box with a hole on it. I described it as such, to all my friends whom were interested to know more about the magic box, what we usually call photographic camera. The elementary instrument able to reproduce the image was in fact known even in ancient times and it was called “stenos opaios”, EQUIPED WITH A SMALL HOLE, translated from Greek. An empty dark box, with a millimetric hole on it in one side and a paper treated with a material sensitive to the light in the other side. Nothing more. The principle of the image creation projected on a surface using a hole is known thousand of years before.
Aristotle speaks of the stenopheich hole, while the Arab sages used it in astronomy to observe the solar eclipses . ...
Marubi 2003 was accompanied for the first time in the history of this activity by a pavillion of Pinhole Photography “Camera Obscura”
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Pinhole Photography has also its winner. The Special Prize Pinhole Photography is awarded to Gregg Kemp from USA. The prize is sponsored by Zero Image (Hong Kong)

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Aparati fotografik është një kuti me vrimë. Kështu do ta përshkruaja kohë më parë për miqtë e mi që interesoheshin të dinin diçka më shumë për atë kuti magjike që quhet rëndom aparati fotografik Instrumenti më elementar i aftë për riprodhimin e imazhit në fakt është njohur që në kohët e hershme dhe quhej “stenos opaios” I PAJISUR ME NJE VRIME TE VOGEL i përkthyer nga greqishtja.
Një kuti bosh e errët, me një vrimë milimetrike në njërën anë të saj dhe një fletë e trajtuar me një material sensibilizues ndaj dritës e vendosur në anën tjetër. Asgjë më tepër.
Principi i formimit të imazhit të projektuar mbi një siperfaqe, duke shfrytëzuar një vrimë, është i njohur prej mijëra vjetësh. Aristoteli flet për vrimën stenopeike dhe dijetarët arabë e kanë përdorur në astronomi për vrojtimin e eklipseve diellore. ...
“Marubi 2003” u shoqërua për herë të parë në historinë e këtij aktiviteti nga një pavion i fotografive Pinhole në “Camera Obscura”
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Fotografia “Pinhole” pati gjithashtu fituesin e saj. Çmimi special i fotografisë “Pinhole” ju dha Gregg Kemp nga SHBA. Ky çmim u sponsorizua nga Zero Image (Hong Kong)

Exhibition : Retrospective Ymer Bali - Albania
PHOTO BALI – THE SIGNATURE OF LOVE FOR HUMAN BEINGS

Ymer (Mer) Bali will forever remain in the Pantheon of the best Albanian photographers. The Albanian art of photography incorporates a rich collection of this master’s work who lived and worked during the XIX century and the mid XX century.
For its historic, artistic and professional values his work is ranked long aside with the other Albanian masters of photography such as Marubi, Idromeno, Sotiri, Pici, Burda, Kallfa and other co-living artists.
The work of Balit, a rich and diverse collection belongs to the white and black photography. You can notice in Bali’s photography lyric emotions, as regards to his paysages or when he focused human behaviour or the life of animals and the dead nature of objects. He was one of the masters of portraits, individual or family ones, distinguished for the clear play with effects and light and shadow interferences, including the compositional concept as well.
Approximately 500 photos of Ymer Balit are preserved in the private collection of the well-known collector, Thimi Nika. From this collection the Curator Ilir Butka selected 38 works, which are exposed for the first time in “Marubi” 2003 for the Albanian and the International public.

Ekspozitë : Retrospektive Ymer Bali - Albania
FOTO BALI - NENSHKRIMI I DASHURISE PER NJEREZIT

Ymer ( Mer) Bali do të mbetet përherë në Panteonin e fotografëve më të mirë të Shqipërisë. Arti i fotografisë shqiptare mban një koleksion tejet të pasur të krijimtarisë së këtij mjeshtri, i cili jetoi e punoi në fund të shekullit XIX dhe deri në mes të shekullit XX. Për nga vlerat historike, artistike e profesionale, ai rradhitet me dinjitet perkrah Marubeve, Idromenos, Sotirit, Picit, Burdës, Kallfës dhe fotografëve të tjerë bashkëkohës.
Krijimtaria e Balit, një fond tejet i pasur dhe i larmishem, i përket kohës së fotografisë bardh e zi. Ajo të përball me emocione të shumta lirike, si kur shikon peisazhet e fokusuara mjeshtërisht në aparatin e tij, ashtu dhe kur ndjek dokumentimin tradicional, korrekt e realist te botes së njerëzve dhe sendeve, ngjarjeve e situatave të përditshme e nga më të ndryshmet e kohës. Po kështu, nëpërmjet objektivit te tij, Bali ka modeluar dhe fiksuar bukur portrete të shumta e të pakrahasueshme familjare apo individësh, që shquhen për një botë të pasur dhe këndvështrime artistike origjinale, për vlera të spikaturadhe të përcaktuara qartë si në lojën e efekteve dhe të inteferencave dritë-hije ashtu dhe për anën kompozicionale.
Rreth 500 foto të Balit ndodhen në koleksionin privat të koleksionistit të njohur Thimi Nika. Kuratori Ilir Butka përzgjodhi 38 prej tyre dhe i paraqiti për herë të parë në ekspoziten “Marubi” 2003.
 

Special Guest / Të ftuar special
Exhibition : Special Guest Joachim Ladefoged
Ekspozitë : I ftuar Special Joachim Ladefoged
 

From "Camera Obscura" to the “Pinhole photography”

The camera is just a box with a hole on it. I described it as such, to all my friends whom were interested to know more about the magic box, what we usually call photographic camera.
The elementary instrument able to reproduce the image was in fact known even in ancient times and it was called “stenos opaios”, EQUIPED WITH A SMALL HOLE, translated from Greek.
An empty dark box, with a millimetric hole on it in one side and a paper treated with a material sensitive to the light in the other side. Nothing more.
The principle of the image creation projected on a surface using a hole is known thousand of years before. Aristotle speaks of the stenopheich hole, while the Arab sages used it in astronomy to observe the solar eclipses.
Alchindus, the Arab scientist of the IX-th century wrote an important treaty on this argument with precise references to the mathematical rules which have an impact on the correct functioning of the “camerae obscurae”, made known through a translation of Gherardo da Cremona in the XII-th century.
Another Arab sage of the same period as Alchindus who describes the “camera obscura” in another important writing is Abu Ali al Hassan al Haitam, otherwise known as Al Hazen. References for the instrument used by him are found in the writings of Bacone (1214-1294), as well as in those of Levi ben Gerson (1320). While in 1521 Cesare Cesarioano publishes “Commentari a Vitruvio” describing the experiments made with the stenopheich hole.
The most clear and detailed description is made by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) in his work named “Codice Atlantico” where for the first time, the structure of the human eye is commented as a “camera obscura”.
Another knowledgeable called Giovan Battista Della Porta (1538-1615) suggests for the first time that a lens may be applied to the hole. This was the initial step for the creation of the portable “camera obscura” as a working tool for the outliners of that time.
By the years 1600, the camera obscura indeed constitutes the most useful tool for the outliners and the painters. One of the most typical examples is Antonio Canal known as Canaleto, who had perfect knowledge on how the objective functions, the correct application of the focus, etc. Since that time many camera obscura were equipped with a mirror placed in 45 degrees position which would deviate the image transmitted through the hole and directed to the upper part of the box, in other words, what would later be called the REFLEX apparatus. 
While the involvement of chemistry in photographic developments belongs to a much later period (1839). The first results came in 1856 when Sir David Brewster for the first time mentioned the instrument called “Stereoscope” and the working method described as “Pinhole Photography”.
The most antique preserved photos are made in 1880 by Flinders Petrie (archaeolog 1835-1942) during a discovery campaign in Egypt.
The stenopeich photography reached its peak in the period known as “Pittorialista”.
In 1890 George Davidson (creator and director of the “Eastman Photographic Materials Company” later to be named KODAK) won the first prize in the yearly exhibition of the “Photographic Society of London”, with a photo realized through this technique.
During the same period various models of stenopeich photo cameras were commercialised. Judging from the characteristics and the price, those cameras would be compared to the contemporaries “use and throw away”. The most popular were “Ready Photographer” and “Glen Pinhole Camera”, but the first project of the commercial stenopeich apparatus is the one of 1887 branded Dehors & Deslandres, made by six holes with different diameters and produced in three various models. After a long absence from the scene of photography, during the years 30 of the XX-th century, this stenopeich apparatus was reintroduced by Frederick Brehm of the “Rochester Institute of Technology” by taking already the form of a PHILOSOPHY with representatives such as Paolo Gioli in Italy, Gottfried Jaeger in Germany, David Lebe, Wiley Sanderson and Eric Renner in United States. 

ILIR BUTKA

LINKS

http://www.pinholevisions.org

http://pinholeresource.com