What is art? In the mind of Wes Pope, it’s a moment of time, caught in the darkness of a soda can. For twelve years, he’s transformed pop cans into cameras. It’s one of the earliest forms of photography, a pinhole camera, and Wes uses them to document life on Route 66.
Wes said he’d never been on the road until found himself in L.A. needing to get to Chicago, “so it just worked out that I made his first trip on Route 66. After that, I was totally hooked.
Soda-can pinhole cameras look at the world a little differently. A piece of photo paper is taped to the curved interior of the can. Light enters in through a small hole in the side and exposes the film. The result is an organically distorted, black and white image, which often catches moving objects with a degree of motion blur.
Wes says on of the allures of pin hole photography is the moment of discovery in the dark-room when he sees the image for the first time. He says it’s often days or weeks since he made the image before he can develop it and so there is an expectation that builds up. “You have no idea what you’re going to get!”
Pope’s photography has been featured in magazines, NPR, and goes on display periodically at art venues like Craft Chemistry in Syracuse where photo enthusiasts gather to enjoy and purchase this unique view of an Americana Staple.
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