Bill Erickson, Events Coordinator for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day (2003), passed away suddenly, of natural causes, on March 8, 2003.

At the time, Bill was working on a number of exposures of exceedingly long duration in preparation for an exhibition of pinhole photography. Sadly, we’ll never know precisely which images he planned to show. Fortunately, we know of his other creative efforts, including a pinhole series using food to take pictures of food. The most successful camera used was made of a Ritz cracker glued to an oatmeal box. Bill stopped work on the series when his dog ate most of the camera.

Bill graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1962, beginning his long medical career as a pediatrician and then practicing for many years as a psychiatrist.

Bill’s interests in photography were life-long, varied and experimental; naturally an interest in pinhole developed. Bill was active in the Pinhole Visions discussion list and always made it a point to welcome newcomers and respond to their questions.

Bill, his creativity, generosity and exuberance, will be missed.

For him death is a release,
but for us it is a loss.

Dieter Bublitz’s favourite leisure activity was photography.

He worked with extensive 35 mm SLR equipment (Pentax), a 4.5 x 6 cm medium format camera (Zenza Bronica ETRS) and a small digital camera as a photographic notebook.

His favourite subjects were landscapes on colour slides. He also preferred to use this material - along with b/w films and papers - with his pinhole cameras.

Pinhole cameras had fascinated him for many years. Creating pictures that were impossible for “normal” cameras inspired Dieter to build and use new camera constructions time and again. He also shared this passion with others via his website www.die-lochkamera.de.

Dieter was born in 1955 in southern Germany. His military service in the Bundeswehr brought him to Bavaria. He lived near Ingolstadt where he got married, built a house, fathered a son and - of course - planted a tree.

In his work life he managed the service division of the Bundeswehr at Ingolstadt. He was in charge of 300 people dealing with real estate administration, food supply and economic matters of approx. 4500 soldiers and civilian employees in the Ingolstadt area.

We, his friends from de.rec.fotografie, got to know Dieter in early 1999 at the first meetings of our mailing list. Even then he was interested in pinhole photography, which he pursued with homemade cameras.

We only learned about his illness in the course of time. In spite of his health problems, which he never allowed to get him down, Dieter was the driving force behind our mailing list, organising meetings and activities.

We fondly remember Dieter‘s invitation to his home on the occasion of the “Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2003” and the enthusiasm with which he conveyed his love of pinhole photography.

Even at our last meeting, a few weeks before he died, his optimism and his sense of humour were unbroken, so we were deeply shocked to hear of his death at the beginning of the year.

We will miss Dieter who was always supportive and friendly. He made a deep impression on us with his ability to stay optimistic during tough times. We will not forget him.