i-pen-photography

mein sonnenschirm, 2006

in today’s blog 8, i’d like to present to you a special, playful and somewhat nutty type of photography.

in 2003, i accidentally discovered a digital camera made by pretec in a catalogue. the camera has a special design and is intended for a target audience with a flair for unordinary commodities, or people with an adventurous play instinct. the camera is packed into and hidden in a ballpoint pen and, since invisible to potential targets of its lens, designed for “secret, spylike” photo techniques. its resolution of 480x640 pixels was already mingy for that time and pretty much inapt to produce a somewhat clear image. the viewfinder is a simple hole that easily fits a toothpick or dental floss. it is absolutely inaccurate and what will eventually be in the picture depends on the angle and distance between your eye and the viewfinder. accordingly, the result was shocking. many pictures were off, the horizon tilted. the “spy gadget” is powered by one aaa battery that lasts for about 50 pictures and forces me to move around as a walking supplier of batteries. to save power, the camera turns itself off after a few seconds. therefore, i often press the release without noticing the camera being out of order and turning it back on with a twisting mechanism takes quite some time. many nice scenes have therefore never been immortalized and now only remain as fugitive energy in the universe.

the first series of images on the monitor was not a pretty view. all images were flat and colorless, soupy like a somber november day. i aggressively changed the hue in photoshop as a result of my frustration, mixed with minor curses. trial and error has always been the mantra of evolution – and voilà, the universe wished to reconcile with me and led me on the right path: phoenix rose from the soupy image and suddenly, images with colorful pixel squares (almost resembling the works of paul klee) arose, magically adding a touch of a painting. this phenomenon is particularly impressive in pictures magnified to 60 centimetres or more.

now the spell was broken, the cheers could not be overheard and i was unstoppable. i already had to make sure that the pen did not melt or even grow together with my right eye.

selbstporträt i-pen, 2011

the appearance of this not so young man with a pen before his right eye and the encounter with this photo alien often surprises bystanders, making them somewhat insecure about their perception. amazement, pitiful shaking of heads, but also curious inquiries are the most frequent reactions. i can barely count the number of dropped jaws anymore and i still find them delighting, even though i have seen my fair share of open mouths in my previous profession. the great attention that is drawn to this photo gadget and the person behind it naturally leaves little room for secretive spy activity.

unfortunately, but also somewhat understandably, the manufacturing of this photographing pen was shut down. a version without a viewfinder that makes videos is still available. however, this makes capturing a motif even a bit more difficult.

maybe pretec will realize the great potential of this pen due to the pictures in this blog and begin mass production.

the photo to blog 8 „mein kleiner sonnenschirm“ is part of a beach series i created in calabria in 2004. the full series is available on this website under the tab i-pen-photos. the picture “la mama am strand” beautifully represents la italianità. the scenery was exhilarating and not only perfectly played, but also intoned in a stunning way.

the images on page 21, 44 and 63 of my book as well as the picture in blog 4 were shot with the i-pen camera.