Artist Statement:
Located in downtown Saint Joseph, Missouri, the LifeLine Foods building is rich in history as its origins date back over a century when it was known as the Aunt Jemima Mill and was later used by Quaker Oats. Today the plant flourishes with activity as it produces a line of corn based food products as well as ethanol.
For this project I chose to use a homemade pinhole camera, which uses no form of optics or film negatives. The pinhole camera reduces the building to basic forms which contrast with the high level of complexity of the plant itself. While the subject matter of the images portrays modern industry, I feel the process also expresses the history of the plant and its surroundings through a more antiquated photographic process. In addition, I see connections between the technological developments of photography that parallel the science applied to modern food and fuel production.
About the Process:
The images were captured through the use of a handmade pinhole camera. It was constructed from wood and a small piece of thin aluminum in which the pinhole was made. Since the camera uses no form of glass optics the pinhole allows a small amount of light to pass through creating a negative exposure. For print and display purposes I then scanned in the negative exposures to create positives in which I printed high resolution 13x19 inch digital prints.
