1 Brussels / 2 Half Moon Bay IV / 3 Montmartre / 4 Nick’s place after the fires / 5 Lanes around Wellington St / 6 Half Moon Bay III / 7 Lanes behind Smith St / 8 The Pinnacle

Continuing on from ensemble: place by pinhole, this is a collection of photographs that document my meandering adventures through various locations. The images also explore the ways in which our perceptual processes shape sensory data into notions of place.
Perception of place does not occur as if taking a simple single snapshot; rather it is made up of many instances of sight as our eyes move around a scene, more still if we walk through that place – there are myriad visual details surrounding us, shifting with our every step. Instinctively we select what to absorb according to our individual interests, emotions, experiences. These many sensory encounters amalgamate into a subjective, non-linear yet cohesive understanding of place.
To photographically represent the complexities of visual experience, I have created these images using a 6-pinhole camera. Constructed from a biscuit tin, the camera has six pinholes at evenly spaced intervals around the circumference. Inside, film is wrapped around a central cylinder. As I explore a location, I open the holes one by one; the exposures merge on the film to form a panoramic montage. This technique mirrors my experience; as I am drawn to details of a scene, so I point my camera towards them. Once this absorption of information has occurred I have little awareness of how these aspects will merge within my mind or the tin to form my complex idea or image of place.