I’m incredibly honored to share that I am taking over The Pinhole Project and will be carrying forward the work of my dear friend and fellow photographer, Janet Neuhauser.
Janet and I shared a deep love of pinhole photography. Janet taught me how to make my first pinhole camera in 2019 and from that first exposure I was hooked. Janet believed there was no such thing as a bad pinhole photograph. The accidents, the mold, the unexpected colors, the movement of the sun across the sky, the things that disappeared and the things that somehow remained—that uncertainty was part of what she loved about it.
Janet started The Pinhole Project in 2013 as a way for her photography students who didn’t have access to a darkroom to make photographs. What began with her students grew into something much larger. Cameras traveled out into the world and came back weeks, months, and sometimes even a year later carrying images no one could completely predict. Over the years, thousands of photographs became part of this remarkable archive.
Before Janet’s health declined, she had made 25 Altoids tin pinhole cameras that she never had the chance to send out. Her daughter Jess has sent them to me so they can finally do what Janet made them to do: go out into the world and make photographs.
I can’t tell you how special it feels to share these last camera’s Janet made.
So, who wants one?
I’m ready to send these cameras to anyone who wants to make a pinhole photograph in Janet’s honor. You don’t need to be a photographer. You don’t need experience with pinhole photography. That was part of Janet’s whole idea—anyone can do this.
Put the camera somewhere, uncover the pinhole, and give it time. A week, a month, six months—maybe longer. Let the sun move across the sky. Let the weather change. Let the camera quietly watch the world.
Then send it back to me. I’ll scan the image, send you a digital copy, and add it to The Pinhole Project Archive alongside the thousands of images that came before it.
Jess has generously offered to cover the materials and postage for these first 25 cameras in her mom’s honor, so there is no cost to participate.
After Janet’s 25 camers go out. I’ll keep making them.
Janet’s dream was beautifully simple: get pinhole cameras into the hands of people and see what happens.
I’m honored to keep that dream going.
If you’d like one of Janet’s cameras, please email me jenny.riffle@gmail.com. I would love to send one your way.
— Jenny Riffle
Pinhole Image by Jenny Riffle, Exposed May 2025 - August 2026 in Morris NY