The greatest PH photo ever.

[POINT OF VIEW]

The greatest, largest, pinhole photograph ever made was made at the very space where I lived for one year. The place is the El Toro, rotary wing, Marine base, Tustin Ca. The photograph is 37 ft. tall by 108 ft. long. It was taken through a ¼” hole in the wall for 35 min. This is one piece of B/W ( hand coated) cloth hung in a blimp hanger with the hole cut in the wall. This is in my humble opinion, the greatest PH photo ever. Bill
http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art100.html

 

[Darkhorse]

I live very close to the old base where this was photographed. There's a massive shopping district there now called, well, "The District". The most interesting part of the place isn't included in the photo: the massive hangars that housed the balloons. Luckily two of the hangers are still there and can be seen from miles around.

 

[35mmdelux]

I used to work down the street from the base and remember the surrounding orange groves before the developers got to it.
Regards -

 

[FrozenInTime]

The greatest, largest, pinhole photograph

Largest okay - greatest ??

A technical achievement yes, but the subject matter is less than exciting.
It says the exposure was only 35 minutes : they could have at least waited till an aircraft/fleet of helicopters was passing/parked-up before they opened the shutter.

 

[Darkhorse]

There hasn't been any aircraft at that base in years.

 

[POINT OF VIEW]

Largest okay - greatest ??

A technical achievement yes, but the subject matter is less than exciting.
It says the exposure was only 35 minutes : they could have at least waited till an aircraft/fleet of helicopters was passing/parked-up before they opened the shutter.

I completely agree. There were 2 reasons that could not happen.
First, they needed a empty hanger to shoot and develop the photo, the hangers were never empty when the base was active and were off limits to non military. Second, the base was closed when the photo was taken, no aircraft any where.
The hanger is the most amazing building I’ve ever seen. They could easily hold 3 football fields and there was no center ground supports. The photo is a amazing story but the building is even more amazing story, in my opinion. Bill

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I was stationed at El Toro, VMA 214 "The Blacksheep Squadron" in the late eighties. Had a blast while I was there, it was sad to here of the base closing.

I followed the pinhole image plan on the net, kind of exciting but the result was less so. Cool idea and a large feat non the less.

Todd