Camera Obscura Workshop

Transforming the room into a Camera Obscura

'Camera Obscura' translates, from Latin, to 'Dark Room' and can also be referred to as 'Pinhole Image'. The earliest versions simply consisted of small darkened rooms with light concentrated through a tiny hole. This resulted in the outside image becoming inverted and then casting itself onto the opposite wall (which is usually whitened). This technique was used for events such as viewing an eclipse of the sun without damaging your eyes. It was also later on used as a drawing technique, casting light and reflecting an image onto paper for artists to trace from. It was only a matter of time before portable models were built, followed by even smaller pocket-size versions. The interior of the box was painted black and the image reflected by an angled mirror so that it could be viewed the right way up- how we perceive it. 

An illustration of the Camera Obscura principle

Children watching an outdoor scene through a Camera Obscura, 1887

Making our very own miniature Obscura

                   

   

This workshop with Peter Renn was probably my favourite so far. I think this was because it not only brought out my inner child but it was technical at the same time. We opted for a small circular lens to see how much detail could be concentrated into such a tiny area. A lot of people made larger models than ours, but i like the fact we just kept it simple and focused on getting it made quickly so we could experiment with the image more. We started by creating a box in which we would insert the lens. Ideally, we would have painted the inside black to help prevent glare and reflections of light bouncing off, but we weren't equipped with paint so had to improvise.

We made a little mechanism consisting of tracing paper and a piece of card. We stuck the paper on the end so we could slide it in and out of the camera obscura. It was amazing to see just how sensitive the focus was. If you even shook slightly with the tracing paper in the box, the image would become blurred and distorted. It was mesmerising to see how well this little lens captured so much detail and how it showed you an image in a completely different way. Our group spent a good two hours wandering around uni whilst looking through the lens. For some reason, everything just become so much more interesting when you were looking at it through a different medium. Also, Peter showed us just how easy they are to make and how accessible the resources to make them are so it inspired me to try out different lens sizes and maybe begin to experiment more with the direction of light.