Solargraphy Origins: The 127-Day Exposure That Began the Series
New to the medium? Read What Is Solargraphy? The Art and Science of Recording the Sun’s Path Over Time.
127-Day Solargraph (2014.08.16 – 2014.12.21), Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
My solargraphy work began with this image, a 127-day exposure made from August 16 to December 21, 2014, using a custom-built pinhole camera overlooking Georgian Bay.
Facing west over the bay, it records one sun trail per day. The highest arc is from mid-August, the lowest from the winter solstice. What first drew me in was not only the beauty of the image, but the way it made time visible. It held duration, weather, celestial motion, and seasonal change in a single frame.
Why This Exposure Mattered
This photograph was the beginning of an ongoing series and the first time I fully understood what solargraphy could do. It was not simply documenting a view. It was revealing something normally beyond perception: the repeated movement of the sun across the sky over many months, shaped by cloud cover, atmosphere, and the Earth’s changing position.
The image also established many of the ideas that continue to define the work: time as subject, weather as collaborator, and material instability as part of the medium itself.
Process
The exposure was made with a custom-built pinhole camera and a sheet of black and white photographic paper. Over 127 days, the paper recorded one solar arc per day, with gaps and interruptions caused by cloud cover and changing conditions.
Unlike a conventional analogue photograph, a solargraph is not developed in the darkroom. The image is burned directly into the paper by extreme exposure, then extracted through scanning before the paper continues to deteriorate in light. The result is both a document of time and a chemically unstable object shaped by exposure, weather, and chance.
The Beginning of the Series
This work became the foundation of an ongoing body of solargraphy exploring time, space, weather, and impermanence. It marked the point where process, place, and concept came together in a way that felt distinct from my other photographic work.
You can read a broader introduction to the medium in What Is Solargraphy? The Art and Science of Recording the Sun’s Path Over Time, or explore the larger body of work through the links below.
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Explore the Solargraphy Collection
What Is Solargraphy? The Art and Science of Recording the Sun’s Path Over Time
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