The Summer Solstice is here, the pinnacle of the year, and we can expect a gradual decline eventually into the wild depths of winter. The lockdown is easing, the death rate dwindling, let’s hope that as the year darkens, the world grows brighter.

This post marks the start of a solargraphy project, where a pinhole camera is used to capture the passage of the sun each day over a period of time – and it’s traditional, apparently, to start on one solstice, and finish at the next, so that you can see the transition of the highest peak to the lowest sweep of the sun.

I’ve used a couple of Guinness cans, with 5×7 photo paper inside, and a tiny pinhole halfway down the tin. One I have mounted on the wall at home – ideally you want to be facing south, but my house doesn’t really do that, but hopefully southish west will do. The other I have stuck on the roof at work, overlooking the sea, so fingers crossed I don’t lose my job by midwinter.