????Anne Zhang ????zhangy49@gmail.com ????SHEILA BOCCHINE helped a crowd of expats and locals discover the beauty, simplicity and magic of pinhole photography during a June 2 lecture at the OZU Bookstore in Futian District. ????It was the first time that Bocchine shared her experience with pinhole photography with the public in China. ????The 33-year-old woman from the United States has practiced this peculiar type of photography for more than a decade, capturing unique perspectives of ordinary scenes and seeing the world through pinholes. ????Starting early ????Bocchine has been determined to be a photographer since her childhood. She got a toy camera at age 3 and always pretended to take pictures with it. As she grew up, Bocchine was eager to have a real camera of her own and finally received one as a gift from her parents on her 10th birthday. ????During her high school years, Bocchine shot pictures for the school newspaper and yearbook and always took portraits for her friends. But not until she went to college did she receive high-level photography education and training. ????Like many photographers, Bocchine used standard cameras for years. She never thought that stumbling upon an antique pinhole camera would open a whole new world of photography to her and create a new career path. ????Every shot a surprise ????Bocchine said she first saw a pinhole camera at a store in Chicago in 2001, a few weeks before she graduated from college. ????“It was a fascinating camera and made me rethink how to practice photography,” she said. ????Only a month later, Bocchine ordered from Hong Kong a pinhole camera made from teak wood, a type that she has kept using for nearly 12 years. ????A pinhole camera, simply stated, is a box with a tiny hole at one end and photographic paper at the other. A small pin-size hole replaces the camera lens. As light passes through the hole, an image is formed inside the camera. ????Bocchine calls it the simplest camera ever invented, but it’s not easy to master the knack of the pinhole camera. It took Bocchine nearly two years to figure out how to use it. ????Different from a digital camera, a pinhole camera doesn’t allow people to look through a viewfinder and adjust the picture to the best position or light. It means you never know how a picture will look until you get the film developed, Bocchine said. ????“Many people think it’s too difficult and lose patience with it,” she said. “But for me, it’s the most exciting part of using a pinhole camera.” ????During the first couple years of practice, Bocchine always carried a notebook around to keep a record of exposures, distances and light used for each picture she took. After the film was developed, she compared the pictures with the notes. ????She acknowledged that she feels frustrated when a picture doesn’t look how she hoped. ????“But frustration keeps me moving forward because I am determined to figure out how to do pinhole photography and do it well,” Bocchine said. ????After years of practicing, Bocchine has started focusing on specific subjects, including portraits, weddings, maternity and sleeping, while developing her own style of pinhole photography. Her works have been exhibited around the world, in countries including the United States, France, Spain, India and South Korea. ????Traveling and photographing ????Born in Italy, Bocchine grew up in the United States and has traveled to many places. She said she loves to see different houses and markets, try exotic foods and experience distinctive smells of various places. But what she is really crazy about, she said, is using her pinhole camera to record what people are doing, what they’re wearing and how they’re working. ????“People on the street are always my favorite subject for photography,” Bocchine said. “You see people doing things on the street, you kind of get a feel for how the country is.” ????Bocchine has lived in Shenzhen for about two years and spends most of her spare time walking around the city, observing and recording the lives of locals. ????“Shenzhen keeps me pretty busy. There are a lot of great neighborhoods here in the city,” Bocchine said. ????Her favorite spots include OCT in Nanshan District, Dafen Oil Painting Village in Longgang District and Fumin Road in Futian District. ????Bocchine’s subjects on the streets of Shenzhen have included a man making birdcages, artists painting in Dafen, a woman cutting watermelons with a giant knife and a butcher chopping pork in Baishizhou. All those things, she said, would rarely be spotted on streets in the United States. ????Bocchine also has been to Shanghai, Kunming and Hunan, and is planning to shoot a series of pinhole photographs about China. ????“I am so fascinated about everything in China — temples, markets, people, flowers and bird markets and dark alleys that you walk through and don’t know what to expect,” Bocchine said. ????Moving forward ????Bocchine said she loves pinhole photography because she believes it’s more artistic than traditional photography, and because she enjoys its interpretation of life — she feels like each pinhole photograph is a marvelous dream, or a surreal, whimsical moment. ????“Long exposure and soft focus make pinhole photos blurred, which makes harsh reality nicer and turns the world more magical,” she said. ????Not many people in Shenzhen do pinhole photography or know much about it. Bocchine met one such shooter, though, during the June 2 lecture. Chen Haohao is the first and only pinhole photographer Bocchine knows in Shenzhen. ????Chen said she likes Bocchine’s street photos, particularly those taken in Baishizhou and Dafen. ????“Sheila Bocchine’s pinhole photographs are great. She is revealing emotions and realizing dreams in her works,” Chen said. ????Bocchine said she plans to visit more places in China over the next few years to finish her China series. ????“I also want to publish a book about street life in China and hopefully open my first photography gallery in this country,” she said. ????“Frustration keeps me moving forward because I am determined to figure out how to do pinhole photography and do it well.” ????— Sheila Bocchine, an 33-year-old American photographer who loves recording life through a pinhole camera | 