UK Community Amigo: Justin Quinnell from Bristol

In this new series, we talk to film fanatics from all around the UK about their passion for film photography and the best places to shoot in their home town. Today we go to Bristol to meet Justin Quinnell, a freelance photographer who has made pinholes out of bins and homemade 3D cameras. He is a true film photography experimenter!

Name: Justin Quinnell
Website: pinholephotography.org
Where I Live: Bristol, UK

Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a freelance pinhole photographer and lecturer, married with 2 kiddies, Ramones Fan, Stood (and lost) 22 elections for the Green Party. Fine art photography graduate, discovered pinhole photography 23 years ago.

Am currently evolving an exhibition of ‘Awfulogrammes’ in the subway of Bristol City Centre, which includes 500,000,000 years of pinhole imaging an exhibition of pinhole cameras including a selection of edible cameras.

Where did your love for film photography start?
My Dad had an edixamat camera which looked good and made a great click when you pressed the shutter.

What are you favourite cameras and why?
I like my wheelie bin camera, which I once sold to the Royal Photographic Society for £250!
Lens wise, I have a Cosmic Symbol which has survived being dropped in the sea and on a trip to Africa, worked when everyone else’s ‘auto wind’ cameras had bitten the dust.

Tell us a bit about these photos you chose?
Awfulogramme – A combination of beer can camera, electronic flashguns, and a victim willing to be photographed from a few cm away = The awfullogramme!

Capercaille and Fag – Being given access to the stuffed animal collection of Bristol Museum. Great fun! Ended up as a (small) part of the Wildlife photographer of the year Exhibition!

3 months in the deaths of Grace, Blance and Dorcus. – Taken with a small camera hidden in the gravel of a grave in a nearby cemetery. A short period of time in a very long period of death.

Bath time, I needed a bath.
I placed a pillow behind my head to restrict movement for the 20 seconds exposure. I put the camera in my mouth, with two flashguns, one in each hand, one with a slave unit, both set on full power. The water starts getting luke warm, Take first photo.Get out of bath and construct a platform to hold the flashguns so I can wind the film on after each shot. Get back into ever cooling bath water and continue taking images, waiting between each shot till the flashguns recharge on worn out batteries. After an eternity I notice the taps and edge further down bath to push my toes up the taps. I continue taking photos, trying to avoid dropping: cameras, flashguns and pillow into the water whilst ignoring the phone, front door, bailiffs etc, Water gets colder. I look down and realise that maybe I should have worn swimming trunks. Use up the rest of the film worrying about the potential angle of view of my pinhole camera. Dry behind my ears, warm up, send film off and hope the processing labs “thought police” don’t edit my art!

Tell us you top 5 locations for shooting in your town?
I don’t really do locations, I just take images wherever I am, often indoors. However as a rough idea:

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, Pubs, Faces and toes!

If you were to invent a new film camera what would it do?
Not work as expected! It would deliver undiscovered accidents. I also think there is an untapped market for edible cameras.

Thanks for taking part Justin!

If you live in the Bristol area check out Justin’s Awfulogrammes exhibition at the Bear Pit Open Gallery until spetmeber 2014

written by hannah_brown on 2014-07-19 #people #accessories #films #camera-reviews #community #uk #lomography-gallery-store #gallery-store #lomoamigo #pihole #eastlondon #35mm-films #tutorials #120-films #quickie-tipsters #londonsoho