James Provenzano: Lensless Light

Heading to Work, 2025, Giclée print from original Polaroid, taken on Leonardo 4 x 5 camera, 16 x 14 inches

Artist’s Statement:
Jim Provenzano is drawn to long-exposure photography as a means of seeking out light. His work expresses the depths, edges, atmospheres, and moods of time and space through the distinctive perspective, ambiguity, and ethereal softness that the tiniest pinhole imparts over time.

In Lensless Light, Provenzano invites viewers into the subtle, meditative world of image-making without lenses. Through the timeless techniques of pinhole and zone plate photography, he captures light in its purest form—revealing landscapes, still lifes, and fleeting moments suspended in quiet luminosity. Each image embodies patience, perception, and the gentle interplay of shadow and glow, offering a contemporary reflection on the centuries-old tradition of the camera obscura.

Lensless photography records—and often transforms—space and time in ways unseen by the naked eye. Having worked for many years exclusively with Polaroid instant films, and now exploring film, sensitized paper, and digital sensors, Provenzano investigates how each medium uniquely shapes the language of the pinhole image. Lensless Light celebrates the beauty of simplicity, the unexpected textures of illumination, and the intimate dialogue between artist, time, and light itself.

Artist’s Bio
Jim Provenzano is a New Jersey–based photographer whose practice centers on the expressive possibilities of lensless and alternative photographic processes. Following an early pursuit of photojournalism, Provenzano chose a personal path in image-making, dedicating himself since the mid-1990s to the exploration of instant and pinhole photography. Now retired from his professional career, he is engaged in revisiting and digitizing his extensive archive of prints and negatives while continuing to create new work across film, sensitized paper, instant materials, and digital media. His work reflects a sustained curiosity about light, time, and the poetic potential of photographic simplicity.