An original Zero Image 2000 sits beside a nearly-frozen Trillium Lake in the Mt. Hood wilderness.  On this particular winter's day we had the camera loaded with a roll of Ilford Pan F.  This is a black and white film we don't use often enough but nonetheless often surprises us... in a good way.  Pan F is not without its occasional issues though.  It can become a bit unpredictable when it is not developed soon after exposure.  In the case of this roll we got a little bit of a mottled texture from the backing paper showing up in our images.  This may have been from the wet environment we drug this camera through in the course of the roll.  It was snowing heavily on this day and this exposure required a few minutes of time, so the camera was wet by the time it went back in the bag.  Seal all that moisture up inside a camera bag meant to keep moisture locked out, then put it in a warm car and the increased humidity may have played a factor in the backing paper reacting with the film's emulsion.  Or it could just be Pan F.  Either way, we wanted to show you the camera in situ and the image it produced.

The Friday after Thanksgiving has been nationally recognized as Native American Heritage Day since 2008 when it was signed into public law, though national acknowledgement of a Native American Heritage Month began in 1990. While the declaration of holidays does little in the way of true reparations, such as returning the land to its traditional stewards, we want to use this day as an opportunity to share some history regarding the land on which we occupy. ⁠

⁠Our shop in so-called Portland, OR stands on the unceded lands of the Molala, bands of the Chinook, bands of the Kalapuya, as well as many other tribes that have made their home along the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Since time immemorial, these peoples have tended to and cared for the lands of the Willamette River Valley. Today we want to turn the focus away from cameras and towards the Kalapuya Treaty of 1855 - the only ratified treaty involving tribes indigenous to the Willamette River Valley.⁠

⁠While the Kalapuyan tribes have lived in the Willamette and Umpqua River Valleys for over 14,000 years, in just the last 200 years, these people have experienced radical impositions to their way of life. By the time early white settlers had come to their land, these tribes had been cultivating intricate systems of horticulture and land management. The early settlers brought with them exotic goods to trade and were not necessarily viewed as a threat until they rapidly increased in numbers. This settler colonial invasion was encouraged by the formal establishment of the Oregon Trail in 1841. As well as laws, such as the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, which gave 320 acres to any white, male settler at no cost. The impact of these incentives dramatically increased the presence of white settlers and, by 1855, they had colonized 2.8 million acres of indigenous land.  Besides claiming ownership of the land, one of the greatest weapons the settlers brought with them was disease. In a five year period, beginning in 1829, about 90% of the Kalapuyans were killed by malaria alone. ⁠

It was during this time of rampant disease and incorrigible invasion that the tribes of the Kalapuya, and others who found their home within the Willamette River Valley, were approached with the Kalapuya Treaty of 1855. The treaty offered the tribes a reservation of land, coming at a time when they had watched their ancestral lands be claimed and fenced off from them, acre by acre, year after year. The treaty also proposed long-term support from the United States government in the form of material supplies, money, health care, and the promise of protection from further attacks by settlers. Pushed by desperation, the leaders of the tribes signed their agreement in order to best protect their people. By 1856, all indigenous people in the Willamette River Valley were forcibly relocated. The people, including children, elders, and the sickly, were marched 200 miles away from their ancestral lands during the winter, many did not survive this Western ‘trail of tears.’

The history of settler colonial oppression and the unwavering resiliency of the many indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest is full and nuanced. We encourage everyone to educate themselves on that history wherever you occupy land - where you live, where you work, where you travel. These histories have undergone systemic erasure and it is important for us to question why and to continue to listen and learn from the people who carry that history forward.

sd/za

The Zero Image pinhole is the perfect companion for those quiet, breezy summer evenings.  It will utter nary an impatient word while you linger at water's edge admiring the brilliant colors playing across the ephemeral clouds.  In fact, it is quite content to sit there as well, doing its silent collecting of light.  ⁠

⁠Yes, it is the ideal co-conspirator for sloughing off time on such pleasant evenings.  It inspires hanging out, waiting, patient contemplation, and appreciation of the simple things.  We daresay any such wandering photographer should own one of these cameras and feel its influence.  Pleasant evenings will never be the same.

za/sd

Zeb's beloved Zero Image 2000 pinhole out in the Oregon wildness.

While we love the celebration of pinhole cameras that comes along with Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, we hope that folks are out there, celebrating the magic that these whimsical cameras bring to the photographic community on more than just one day.  We encourage you to use your pinhole cameras so thoroughly and enthusiastically that they start to carry these adventures and memories in their bodies, not only in the images the help create.

sd/za

Every April features Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day when, around the globe, there will be a variety of pinhole-related festivities going on by lensless photographers everywhere.  How will you celebrate this year?  Perhaps it will be by building a camera unlike any you have ever made before?  Or maybe you will use the day to start a yearlong solargraph?  You can always use the occasion to add to your never-quite-big-enough collection of pinhole cameras, we may even have a few to tempt you with in our inventory.

za/sd

Here we have a well-worn Zero Image pinhole, atop a well-worn stool from our well-worn darkroom.  We love how often an analog lifestyle will reveal its rigor to you through the wear and tear and well-lovedness.  It's through all of the scratches and rusty bits that you can witness the history of an object, the dedication to the craft.

sd/za

What do Blue Moon employees do on their days off?  Well, many things really, such as grabbing their Zero Image pinhole and heading down to Powell's to browse the photo books.  Today's find is The Stanford Album by Carleton Watkins, a truly beautiful book.  Recognize the waterfall?

za/sd

Zero Image pinhole cameras and Gorillapods go together like peanut butter and jelly, fish and chips, Romeo and Juliet, silver halide crystals and light...

Go places.  Take cameras.  Make photos.

These three cameras devoured that cinnamon roll.

Gift idea: a Zero Image pinhole camera.   Why?  Few cameras will more dramatically and enjoyably change the way a photographer looks at the world and goes about the art of image creation.  Plus, they're absolutely beautiful.  Which Zero Image model?  Get the Zero 2000.  It is 6x6 format; the square is super fun to work with in pinhole, with the camera's wide angle view and infinite depth of field.  Plus, the camera is surprisingly affordable at a bit over $100.  It is small enough to keep in the pocket of your coat.

za/sd

Normally, wooden cameras and fireplaces mix about as well as digital cameras and rainstorms.  However, when you are up high on Mt. Hood, and there is a murderously brutal storm blowing outside, cozying up in front of one of Timberline Lodge's massive fireplaces is just the way to pass an afternoon.  There was an inexact science employed to make sure that no other fires started over the course of this 30 minute exposure. 

za/sd

This might seem a bit of an unexpected opinion from us, being a camera store and all, but we are not nearly as big on cosmetically mint cameras as you might think.  Too often, a mint camera is an unused camera, and our belief is that cameras are meant to be used.  When you work with analog cameras that can have lifespans of many decades, even a century or more, you really come to appreciate the patina some of these cameras have earned.  Such traces of history make each camera unique.  Our cameras can tell stories in more ways than one.  Pictured here is a Zero Image 2000, one of the finest pinholes you can buy.  This one is only about ten years old.  Note the wear marks in the varnish around the shutter from the numerous pieces of tape used over the years as insurance from the shutter accidentally opening. 

za/sd

Check out this early model Zero Image 2000.  Its certificate of authenticity places it as a 1999 model, number 116 to be precise, which makes it one of the first pinhole cameras to come from Zero Image!  Considering how long we have been using and selling these cameras ourselves, and how familiar we have become with them, it was really interesting to see the modern version's ancestor.  Specifically, to note the differences between the models, such as, the film winding window sitting way off to the side, as opposed to its current, more centered position.  There are so many good pinhole camera options out there these days, but Zero Image still occupies the favored position in our hearts. 

za/sd

Winter has come to the Pacific Northwest and, for us here at the shop, that means wet weather more often than not.  Our favorite rainy day camera?  How about a Zero Image pinhole?  These cameras scoff at wet weather.  Made from teak, a naturally water resistant wood, and finished with multiple layers of varnish (also available in a wax and oil finish), these wood cameras are not phased by exposure to wet weather.  No warping or swelling here.  We remember making an image with one of these cameras in a downpour once at Multnomah Falls, without an umbrella.  There were two waterfalls that day: the subject of the photo, as well as the mini replica cascading off the front of the camera.

za/sd

So, you have a pinhole camera that is referred to as being a "Back to Nature" model.   Where do you suppose one should take such a camera?  Why, out to nature of course.  Here is one such Zero Image pinhole camera, intrepidly exploring the wild outback of Oregon.⠀ ⠀

Note the brass dial on the back of this camera, this may be one of its most ingenious features.  This dial is engraved with shutter speeds and apertures on concentric rings; the inner one of which, rotates.  Take a meter reading off anything and plug it into the dial, find the Zero Image's aperture, and note the corresponding shutter speed.  It makes calculating exposures at f/138-f/250 a breeze... or a walk in the forest.⠀ ⠀

Our "pro tip" for the Zero 2000 is to calculate those exposures at f/250 instead of f/138, which is the camera's noted aperture.  Calculating at the smaller aperture builds in natural over-exposure, which helps to compensate for the reciprocity failure rate you can incur with this camera's naturally long exposures.  This is a simple way of not having to worry about reciprocity failure and it helps to keep the overall process of using this camera simpler.

za/sd