‘rathaus hamburg’ by garbageman michael pfohlmann, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann, 2012 sheet of ilford multigrade paper with six minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

sanitation workers christoph blaschke, mirko derpmann, hans-peter strahl, roland wilhelm, max soller, michael pfohlmann, and werner bünning of hamburg, germany have created a series of black and white images taken with garbage bins. the team, known as the trashcam project, has transformed garbage bins into pinhole cameras for their photographic collection. the initiative pictures their community via giant dumpster-constructed pinhole imaging tools, producing a large-scale, black and white photographic collection.

each of the garbage bins involved in the project has been turned into cameras by the team drilling one small hole into the front of each trash receptacle, then introducing light from this minute point to a piece of ilford multigrade photographic paper in order to capture the views of hamburg. the trashcam project members moved the collection of dumpsters in light-tight vans, installing the massive imaging tools in various points throughout the city to absorb the vision of their specific location. the imprinting process for the collaborative effort took anywhere from six minutes to an hour to properly picture the garbage bin’s surroundings upon the light-sensitive paper hidden inside.

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 2 ‘planetarium hamburg’ by bernd leguttky, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmannsheet of ilford multigrade paper with 40 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 3 ‘rickmer rickmers hamburg’ by garbageman werner bünning, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with 40 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 4 ‘dom hamburg’ by garbageman bernd leguttky, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade with ten minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 5 ‘katharinenfleet hamburg’ by garbageman werner bünning, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann. sheet of ilford multigrade paper with 30 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 6 ‘fleetschloss hamburg’ by garbageman hans-dieter braatz, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with 45 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 7 ‘kirche altenwerder’ by hans-peter strahl, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with 45 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm‘the church is now standing in the middle of an industrial agglomeration, the parish has vanished. as you can see it is not easy to find out where the frame ends.’ -the trashcam project

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 8 ‘grosse freiheit reeperbahn’ by garbageman max soller, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with 40 minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

the street ‘große freiheit’ of hamburg is examined through the use of the long-exposure dumpster camera.

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 9 ‘horner rennbahn hamburg’ by garbageman max soller, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with five minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

the horse-racing track in hamburg-horn, germany is photographed by the collective with one of their pinhole camera garbage containers.

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 10 ‘self portrait of dustman roland wilhelm’ by roland wilhelm, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann sheet of ilford multigrade paper with six minutes exposure time 106 x 80 cm

‘garbageman roland wilhelm takes a picture of himself and his trashcam with a second trashcam. photographed with a pinhole garbage container by roland wilhelm, christoph blaschke and mirko derpmann at the site of hamburg´s wase collecting service… please show some respect for rolands fantastic ability to not move‘. -the trashcam project

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 11 ‘werner bünning takes a trashcam picture’ by mirko derpmann image captured with a fuji gw690 on fuji velvia

‘garbageman werner bünning is taking a picture with a 1.100 litre garbage container transformed into a pinhole camera. it was raised on top a public barbecue to get a better angle.‘ -the trashcam project

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 12 ‘hans-dieter braatz moving the shutter’ by mirko derpmann picture taken with a fuji gw690 camera on fuji velvia

‘garbageman hans-dieter braatz is taking a picture with a 1.100 litre garbage container transformed into a pinhole camera. it will take 2 minutes of framing and one hour waiting.‘ -the trashcam project

garbage bin pinhole camera image series by the trashcam project - 13

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