Pinhole
Copyright© 2022 by Fanlon
Chapter 3
For the next week, the only class I enjoyed was photography and Mr. Watts’ antics in class was one of the biggest contributing factors. I should say I did enjoy Spanish on one occasion. That is because Ms. Martinez wore a short dress with a plunging neckline. I knew she had curves, but when she wore that dress, those curves were almost on full display. Her legs looked long, lean, and her Latin heritage gave her the sun-kissed look that most girls around here would have killed for. Other than that one day, one class, and one dress, it was all about photography for me.
Mr. Watts surprised everyone and taped all of the pictures we had taken with the Polaroid cameras up on the wall for everyone to see. He gave critiques and praises on each and every one. After Mr. Watts talked about the picture I had taken of Adam, Adam seemed to relax and it turns out, we had a lot in common. First and foremost, we shared a love of the Huskers, who had a record of 2-0 so far with dreams of a National Championship still on the table. There was a huge away game against the number two ranked team in the country, the Washington Huskies, this weekend that looked tough.
Mr. Watts explained the class’s main project for this quarter. That was, we were all supposed to create our own portfolios using the pinhole cameras we would be making ourselves. We would also have to develop the photographs ourselves in the darkroom. It wasn’t big enough for the whole class to work in there all at once, so he divided up the class right down the middle. Half of the class would get to use the darkroom on Mondays and Wednesday; the other half would get Tuesdays and Thursdays. That should make it more manageable for him to help us if we had questions, as well as giving us all enough room and access to supplies. Adam and I were on the Tuesday-Thursday rotation. I was hoping Laura would share the same darkroom schedule, but it wasn’t to be.
Mr. Watts taught us all about the three stages of developing a picture on direct positive photopaper. Positive photopaper, what? I was confused right away. I thought all pictures were taken on film, which would have to be kept in those little canisters with the caps that blocked out all light, keeping them from getting ruined. That, it seemed, was not the case at all.
Mr. Watts did go on to explain about traditional developing basics. Almost all pictures were taken using film. So I was right. He also explained why when a camera took a picture, the were negative images first. There were a couple different ways to then change it into a positive picture. Like the ones we get back when we drop off our rolls of film to get developed.
One option was to use an enlarger. That would transfer the negative into a positive on the photopaper mounted below. Another option was a contact style. However, we would be cutting the negative step out completely, for now. The only thing about this style, was it was going to invert the image, which didn’t sound too bad to me and fairly simple.
The first stage was the developer. The chemical we would be using would react with a silver gel that was coated on the photopaper. The hidden image would then seem to magically appear as the reaction persisted. I didn’t understand the whole chemistry of it. I just trusted Mr. Watts that it worked.
The second stage was aptly named a stop bath. The whole purpose was to rinse off the photograph so that the developer chemical wouldn’t contaminate the last step in the development process. This was important for us because the school had a limited budget, and we couldn’t afford to keep replacing chemicals if someone somehow skipped steps and ruined the last phase.
The third step was the fix. It was just like it sounded, it fixed the image on the page and made it so it was no longer susceptible to light. It washed away any chemicals still remaining on the page and left you with the image you would have forever.
The last step was the wash, it would remove any of the last remaining fix chemical and kept the picture from yellowing over time. This was the longest step in the whole process, but also the easiest.
Mr. Watts was asked about filters, by none other than the twins in front of Adam and me.
“Filters are one of the tools available to photographers, but we won’t be using those yet,” Mr. Watts answered. “Maybe by the end of the quarter. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
When it finally came time to build our own personal pinhole cameras, everyone was excited. Adam and I worked together on ours. Our thought was if we worked as a team, there would be fewer mistakes, not that either of us knew what we were doing or how to avoid such calamities.
Mr. Watts put up a diagram on the projector and handed each of us two large pieces of cardboard that we were supposed to cut up and use to make our cameras. Now that we were in high school, we were allowed to use Exacto knives instead of having to use scissors for everything like we did in middle school.
We copied the diagram on the board exactly, and even double checked each other’s work to make sure neither one of us made a mistake. The pinhole camera was incredibly simple, so much so I didn’t truly understand how it actually worked. If it did, why weren’t more people using them? When it was all said and done, Adam and I had our two cameras, and we were both proud of how they turned out.
“Let’s see how you two did, shall we?” Mr. Watts said, picking up first mine and then Adam’s camera. He checked to see if they had any cracks or holes that would let in light. The design had a removable lid, and he took that off to put a small flashlight inside. When he was satisfied they would work, he nodded and smiled. “Good job. These two look, great.” Adam and I high fived a bit too enthusiastically, and we broke out laughing in response to the sudden pain in our palms.
It was Friday when the class was done building all the cameras. Mr. Watts told everyone that when we came back on Monday, we would be heading outside to take our first pictures with our very own, handmade cameras. A cheer rose in the room, everyone was excited and ready to test out their creations.
Saturday, I spent the day sitting with Mom and Dad on the couch watching football. Nebraska faced off with Washington and won going away 27-13. The three of us cheered the whole game until our voices were almost nonexistent. We celebrated the win by ordering pizza, and Mom and Dad had a few beers while I was stuck with Coca-Cola. Dad and I talked all night about how we were going to win every game and then the National Championship.
When I got to photography class on Monday, I could hardly contain my excitement to test my pinhole camera. Adam met me at the door almost ten minutes early. I looked at him, surprise written all over my face.
“What?” Adam asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I wasn’t going to answer the question honestly. Adam was a big guy and I thought he would be enjoying lunch to its full potential—not cutting it short to come to class.
“Just surprised to see you here this early.” I shrugged, hoping he bought it.
“You aren’t the only one who can’t wait to try those cameras out!” I grinned and he started to chuckle which did interesting things to his belly. “Can we go in?”
“Yeah, let’s go!” I grabbed the handle, turned it and we both walked inside.
No sooner had we sat down at our table when the darkroom door spun.
“Hello Mr. --” I started to say Mr. Watts, but that’s not who it was.
Two older students came hurrying out of the room. The guy looked like he was probably a senior and he was tucking in his shirt and then zipping up his fly before he noticed Adam and I sitting in the room. The girl looked like a sophomore, at most, and her blouse wasn’t buttoned all the way up. Our jaws dropped when we both got a clear view of a perfect pair of pale breasts with dusty pink areolas and darker pink nipples.
She yelped when she saw us and hurried to button herself up, turning her back to us to hide her exposed state. I thought we were about to take a beating from the guy, but he just winked and started laughing. Holy shit!
“Umm, where is Mr. Watts?” I managed to ask while Adam was still trying to remember how his jaw worked.
“He’s in the darkroom,” the girl answered and giggled.
“You mean...”
“No!” The guy’s face morphed from smile to shock at the question. “We had to hide and we were barely able to sneak out without getting caught.”
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