Camera obscura?

[Drew B.]

Don't know what to say about this...what are your thoughts?

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2762...gn=u528&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery0

 

[TheToadMen]

nice project?

 

[AgX]

Walk-in camera obscuras are nothing knew, but too dim to be very practical.

However this concept to make a photographic series depicting the outside of several homes that way is a good idea.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I tried it and it works. I met a french photographer who drilled a hole into the wall between his living room and the kitchen;then, he utilized the kitchen as his camera obscura to take pictures of his unexpecting visitors in the living room. he exhibited them at photokina in Cologne in 2010; very creativebut few friends lef.

 

[nsurit]

Morell has several books. I had an opportunity to meet and speak with him at an Austin Center for Photography event several years ago. Interesting guy. Google him or bettter yet, buy a book. Bill Barber

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

There was one in Madison sq park a few years ago, it was cylinder shaped with a simple adjustable iris aperture. Worked even on cloudy days, and you could even cup your hand to make a smaller hole for an even sharper but dimmer image. Very cool experience. I also had a chance to meet a photographer in Tompkins sq park that built a collapsable one large enough for one or two people that made it for her final project. I think Bruce gilden was also there helping out which was strange as he didn't have his leica, and had a smaller maybe mirrorless digital camera? He looked familiar but I didn't realize it was him until after I took my class back inside.

 

[Valerie]

I love Morell's work. It inspired me to make a rough, portable camera obcura at the college this year. We set it up and brought in students, faculty, etc. Everyone was surprised at what they saw (most being unaware of this phenomenon) and it also was a good way to drive interest towards my photo classes.

 

[MattKing]

If you have a security "peephole" in your door at home, you may already have one at hand

 

[David Brown]

I love Morell's work. It inspired me to make a rough, portable camera obcura at the college this year. We set it up and brought in students, faculty, etc. Everyone was surprised at what they saw (most being unaware of this phenomenon) and it also was a good way to drive interest towards my photo classes.

 

[removed account4]

Morell has several books. I had an opportunity to meet and speak with him at an Austin Center for Photography event several years ago. Interesting guy. Google him or bettter yet, buy a book. Bill Barber

+1

i met him in providence at a talk he gave at RISD ...

 

[bdial]

Shadow of the House is an interesting film about Morell and his work;

http://www.abelardomorell.net/posts/blog-post-test/

 

[gone]

Probably one of the oldest artist's aids in the books. Goes back centuries. Nice image on the link.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Probably one of the oldest artist's aids in the books. Goes back centuries. Nice image on the link.

I saw a really good documentary recently about the rediscovery of artists using a concave mirror to get a brighter image. I'll try and find the name of it later.

Edit: the documentary was called Daivd Hockney the lost secrets of the ancient masters.

 

[Whiteymorange]

Abe Morrell was our featured speaker last year at a PHSNE gathering in Boston. His work is amazing. The thing to remember in planning to do anything like this is that the room will be so very dim that any photographic exposure of the image on the wall (film) will take a long time. Minutes, not seconds.

As for Hockney and the use of mirrors and lenses by Renaissance artists, the tool most cited is the Camera Lucida, not Obscura- a very different animal indeed, but equally cool. The concave mirror technique works as well for projecting a high key lighted area onto a white surface in a darker part of the room. Try it with a make-up mirror.

 

[TheToadMen]

Also check out this nice short film: https://vimeo.com/71673549 (Paris) and this film: https://vimeo.com/46175179 (India).