Camera Obscura Projects

The camera obscura is a darkened space into which light is admitted through a small aperture (sometimes aided by a lens and sometimes a mirror also) with an inverted image of the surrounding view cast by the light onto a surface inside. Shown here are works that combine study and play; some of an experimental nature and some as a tactile and experiential means of exploring optical technology of past centuries. Of the former, "Kepler’s Klepper (Kayak/Camera-Obscura)" is a work created during a 2011 residency in Tasmania. A 1960s German folding Klepper kayak was converted into a floating camera obscura, and used in a video created for Tasmania’s biennale, Ten Days On the Island. The 10’ video, "A Camera Obscura on the Tamar," was created along the Tamar River by way of a video camera on a raft, mostly towed behind the kayak. The 2011 "Coimbra Camera Obscura," approximates a tent-type camera obscura of the 1820s of the sort used to aid in drawing. Its users are encouraged to gain an experience of optical technology in the decade or two before photography’s invention. The "York Panoramic Camera Obscura" was created for a temporary sculpture exhibition in 1987, during my MFA studies at York University. Once inside, viewers were able to walk the structure around in a circular fashion, to view a moving panorama of the surrounding university campus. A further link goes to "One Eye Folly," another camera obscura work, from North Bay's Ice Follies, 2008.

Kepler's Klepper:

Kepler's Klepper, preliminary drawing

Kepler's Klepper, cross-section

Kepler's Klepper, disassembled

Coimbra Camera Obscura:

Tent Camera Obscura c.1820

Coimbra Camera Obscura

York Panoramic Camera Obscura:

York Panoramic Camera Obscura 2

Ice Follies:

Link to Ice Follies page

One Eye Folly

preliminary drawing