The beach was totally filled with people walking up and down, and dogs, and all sorts of things, but in the picture, I'm the only one there, because we used a 10 minute exposure, and everyone was moving except me. Now, that's not the memory we have of that beach, but the photographer was able to create this very magical image of me standing on the beach, looking as if I was in the middle of a totally deserted place. For those of us who are intuitive, and want to walk into that mysterious side, pinhole photography allows that opportunity. A regular camera has a lens, but a pinhole camera has a tiny little hole that lets enough light in, enough to make an image. A lens focuses the light to a point, but a pinhole does not.
Exposures are much longer, and the camera has to be held still.
Those of us that do pinhole photography, do it because we feel that it captures more than just a split second of an event. Most pinhole exposures are somewhere in 3 seconds to 10 minute range. Generally, pinhole cameras use film, which can be either color or black and white. You can also use photo paper right in the camera. Most people make their own pinhole camera out of some sort of box like a Quaker Oats box.