Out of Focus: Pinhole Cameras and their Pictures

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Description

Peter Olpe has been manufacturing customized pinhole cameras since 1978. In 2012 he donated 90 of his cameras to the Swiss Camera Museum in Vevey where the collection will be exhibited. In images and texts the book Out of Focus presents these cameras and, in addition, tells the story of the authors ever-changing interests in the subject a written documentation of Peter Olpes work as a designer, photographer, illustrator and teacher. Furthermore, the creative work of 36 photographers is presented, all of whom Peter Olpe invited to take photos with one of his pinhole cameras in a kind of "art barter". His offer was simple. If the resulting images were of a quality to be used in the book and the exhibition in Vevey, the camera would pass into the possession of the artist. During the project, Olpe designed many unique tailor-made cameras for the artists and just as many diverse and surprising photographs were created using them.

Author Bio

Peter Olpe, born in 1949, is a graphic designer, photographer, and illustrator. He taught at the Basel School of Design until his retirement in 2009. From the late seventies, Peter Olpe dealt with the design and construction of pinhole cameras for medium-format film. He realised photographic projects and showed and sold them in exhibitions or exchanged them for art. Olpe is also the author of several books on drawing and pinhole photography.