If you’ve never experienced the magic of capturing a pinhole photograph for yourself, today is the day to give it a shot. It’s April 26th, which makes it Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and the perfect day to discover this artform.

There is no sensor, no lenses, and no “chimping” your LCD screen; there’s no film winding, no light metering, and no discussing the merits of different camera bodies.

All you have is a light-tight container with a pinprick in one side, a piece of light-sensitive paper (or film), and the whole world on the other side of that pinhole. And what results, if you play your cards right and have the patience to wait sometimes as long as 3 months for a single exposure, is a photo like this:

Not that you’re limited to solargraphs that take months to capture. Exposure times can be much more manageable than that. But whatever type of pinhole photograph you take — and no matter what kind of creative “camera body” you use — you’re engaging in one of the purest ways to paint our world with light.

We sincerely hope you’ll go out and try pinhole photography for yourself today (or this week), and just in case you need some inspiration before you go, we’ve compiled 26 mesmerizing, haunting, and fascinating pinhole photographs from the 500px community to celebrate this day. Happy worldwide pinhole photography day!

To see more of the pinhole photography on 500px, click here. And if you have some pinhole images to contribute — or if you plan on going out today to take some… hint hint — use our new uploader to get them onto your profile!