Explorations in observational photography using simple pinhole functionality. Comprised of discarded cell phone parts clad in paper housing, my camera is nothing special. The images manifest digitally via SD card, working in harmony with an analog capture.

MANHATTAN BRIDGE, 10.24

Without a viewfinder, environmental lighting is key for an ideal outcome - candid, simple, and frozen in time. A standard 2 second exposure without aperture or shutter control means that the only adjustments happen in post-production. Mastery of a sharp motion shot only results from a very steady hand - and a perfectly timed press.

JOYFACE, 05.24

Inspired by the likes of Vivian Maier, I began traveling with this camera during a postgrad trip to Europe in 2022. With a life ahead of me and a pandemic behind me, I attempted to capture the world with my small camera as I began to explore it.

LOUVRE MUSEUM, 08.22
SAGRADA FAMILIA, 07.22
SETAS DE SEVILLA, 11.22

I aimed to remove myself from the frame, but as I look through my favorite images, I see that often I captured emotional undertones. Immediately following my trip, I moved across the country to start my life as an “adult”. I was desperate to make art, to make friends- but I was heartbroken and depressed. Even the images I took of the striking city that surrounded me felt melancholy and isolated.

NYC, 12.22

The camera’s slim design means it can be taken places a camera usually can’t go - mosh pit, ski slope. A beloved professor of mine denounced the way expensive, high quality cameras must be treated with kid gloves. Often the most honest photography, he told us, comes from “shitty” cameras. He attends Burning Man every year and creates images using a barrel.

SALT LAKE CITY, 05.23
SALT LAKE CITY, 02.24

As I continued, I fell in love with the different ways the pinhole reacted to light, particularly in my landscape shots. Most times, it would exaggerate misty softness, rounding edges and fading horizons. Unexpectedly, however, some images’ skies presented in breathtakingly crisp detail.

MONTAÑA DE ORO, 07.24
PŪPŪKEA BEACH, 07.23

I hope these pictures speak to you of youth, of tenderness, of a person searching for herself thousands of miles from home, trying to find beauty and stillness in a world of chaotic motion.

RIIS BEACH, 08.24
SAN FRANCISCO, 07.24

It takes privilege to travel and observe the largest, wealthiest cities in the world for my own pleasure. Some of the most important photos I have captured have been those that speak to the ugliness of life during this time. They show a spirit of revolution, a rejection of voyeurism for the sake of the aesthetic. These I look at longer and consider harder even than some of my most beautiful images. These are powerful.

“My photos traveled the world, but my feet couldn’t touch my homeland.”
Motaz Azaiza

BROOKLYN, 12.23
BARCELONA, 07.22