from David Prior

I would like to make a few personal observations on the Collecting Place project.

 

 My overwhelming reaction at the end of the Collecting Place project was one of sadness that it had come to an end so quickly. I had enjoyed myself so much as indeed had Amy. She returned to school the following week, of course, and immediately wrote a piece on the their web site explaining what she had been doing and inviting anyone interested to ask her questions about the Brontes and photography!

 

Having a granddaughter with impaired sight, to be invited to take part in a unique photography experience was very welcome and, I'm sure, will be something for her to remember for many years to come. She is keen to carry on with the basic photography we did and wants to do more pinhole photographs with the camera she made, so I am getting paper and chemicals for that purpose and we shall have a go.

 

I was pleased to take part in the project and would like to congratulate Simon and Andrew for the exemplary way they conducted the proceedings, making each stage easily understood for the participants and involving everyone in the practical aspects. Photography has always had a prominent place in my life from the early days of using a Kodak Box Brownie, through a three year period as a photographer in the Royal Air Force, followed by the usual home and personal photographs in adult life and now I am using the modern digital cameras. This recent project, however, took me back to the early days and once more I experienced the thrill of a photographic image appearing in the developing tray as if by magic. All those present experienced this thrill I think from the comments expressed on the blog.

 

The trip to Top Withens was a particular treat. It is one of my favourite places for its atmosphere and moorland scenery. These days, for health reasons, I find it hard to walk all that way so I was particularly pleased to be driven there. For me, it was possibly the best day of the six.

 

It is clear all the girls thoroughly enjoyed this unique photographic experience. We must thank Simon for his foresight in bringing the idea to fruition and Andrew for introducing the Brontes to the girls. The exhibition, in its simplcity, belies all the hard work everyone put into it but I am told, after a further visit there with my wife and talking to the ladies in the shop, that visitors are finding it of additional interest at the end of their Parsonage visit. So our efforts were worthwhile.

 

David Prior

Simon's Pictures - Week 2

Simon's Pictures - more Week 1

Simon's Pictures - Week 1

Roger Fenton's photographic van

I've only recently come across this picture of the horse-drawn van that Roger Fenton worked from to photograph the Crimean War in 1855. It was converted from a wine-merchant's wagon, and served as both darkroom, equipment store and sleeping quarters for Fenton (his assistant slept underneath the van between the wheels).

Fenton needed a mobile darkroom because he was using the new Wet Collodion process, which required him to coat glass plates with liquid photographic emulsion just before taking each picture. The plates then had to be developed before the emulsion dried.

So we had it quite easy really.

Project Report by Simon Warner

The Collecting Place


My ideas for The Collecting Place were developed in conjunction with Andrew McCarthy, Deputy Director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum with whom I worked successfully on Leaving Home in 2005. From the start we wanted to work with sight-impaired young people as a distinct group who can easily become marginalized by visual arts projects. I wanted to explore the receptivity of such a group to visual exploration. I also wanted to explore – as a personal goal – certain fundamental properties of photography through the use of large-scale equipment.


Participants

After originally assuming we would be working with Education Bradford, it soon became apparent that an invitation to families rather than schools would provide the best chance of recruiting participants for an extended project. Simon Labbett, Rehabilitation Officer based at Bradford’s Morley Street Resource Centre, was an early convert to our aims and obtained positive responses from several families to our letter of enquiry. We held an information meeting at Morley Street Resource Centre in February which I am sure secured the commitment of those who attended.

Running the project in the Easter holidays also gave us a group of interested parents/guardians who played a full part in many of the activities.

I spent some time investigating basic optics and the structure of the eye, and found out as much as possible about the individual disabilities of the participants from Simon Labbett. I am particularly pleased that we had time to perform some basic optical experiments during the project, for example restaging a version of Kepler’s proof that light travels in straight lines (thereby causing both pinhole and lens images to turn upside down). This principle was applied in two of the exhibited large-format pictures, where pairs of participants – standing inside the camera – are silhouetted against an inverted background.

All the participants who attended the original information meeting were highly motivated and maintained concentration and enthusiasm throughout the 6-day span. In fact they turned out to be an ideal group, and I quickly had to revise my initial assumption (put forward in the project proposal) that they might be less receptive to photographic activities because of impaired vision. If anything the opposite was the case. Only one person missed any of the days, due partly to acute sensitivity to bright light.

I assume that participants feel they learned quite a bit about photography during the project. I posted basic information about cameras and camera obscuras on the project blog: www.thecollectingplace.blogspot.com, which became a useful repository for feedback and pictures and which is being maintained at least for the duration of the BPM exhibition. All participants posted items on the blog. One also produced an illustrated journal of the project.

There were frequent opportunities for the exercise of motor skills and brain-hand-eye coordination in the various project activities, from assembling the camera tent to measuring and pouring chemicals. Working in a safelit darkroom and inside the darkened camera undoubtedly posed challenges to some people, but at no time prevented full participation

Socially the project seems to have been very effective. Friendships were formed between young people who had not met before, and all behaviour was noticeably civilized and considerate.


Planning and Delivery

Following the initial meeting with participants in Bradford, Andrew McCarthy and I worked out a schedule for the 6 days of the project. I felt it was a great bonus to be able to work intensively with a group over a number of consecutive days, and tried to plan a project that would build skills and understanding towards a major piece of experimentation. See the Project Schedule document for this initial proposal. A handout given to participants on the first day set out the same basic timetable of activities.

I was in two minds about the value of allocating a whole day to the National Media Museum visit. In the event it turned out very well: people were genuinely interested in the exhibits. The early photographs laid out for us in the Insight archive were particularly popular. I had asked to see cyanotypes by Anna Atkins (possibly the first recorded woman photographer) but didn’t realize the museum had a hand-stitched book of natural history photograms given by her to her father. This seemed to offer a nice parallel with the Brontë children’s famous Little Books, and it encouraged me to fit in a cyanotype-sunprint session at BPM the following day in which we used an identical technique to produce photograms of flowers on blue paper. On the same day we also made time to perform the inverted-light source experiment referred to earlier: this was in response to a question about how light passes through lenses.

Overall I think the progression from cameraless silhouettes (introducing darkroom work) through museum visits, optical demonstration, pinhole cameras and cyanotypes to large-scale image production worked well. I could have worked harder to provide solid information about optical principles, camera construction and photo-chemistry, but some of this is on the blog, and I hope I have at least provoked curiosity about these matters.

I might have provided more opportunities for participants to solve real problems that arose during the project. There was a certain amount of this (see bullet points in next section below) but the availability of willing adults made it very easy to overlook opportunities for problem-solving. However participants did feel ownership of the project: when I proposed reshooting one of our early photographs there was clearly-voiced opinion in favour of keeping and exhibiting what we had already done.


Technical Preparation and Realization

My basic stimulus for The Collecting Place was the ambition to make a photographic camera big enough to stand in, with an image bright enough to view comfortably on the interior focussing screen. I equated this with the working conditions experienced by Victorian wet-plate photographers, although clearly we were doing something uniquely our own at the same time.

We were fortunate to obtain a Darkroom Tent from the grandfather of one of the participants. This was of sturdy construction (currently available ones are much flimsier) and proved ideal for attaching additional plywood boards to support the photographic film and lens. It was the only modification needed apart from cutting a hole in the light-tight fabric at one end to take the lens,

Conventionally this kind of project has been based around pinhole photography (i.e. no lens) and indeed we made pinhole cameras from cardboard boxes as part of the introductory activities. These have the disadvantage that the images are very dim with resulting long exposures of several minutes. I was concerned that:

• people with impaired sight would be unable to view such images

• wind movement might ruin long exposures made on location.
.
I had come across the specialist lens manufacturer Optical Instruments Ltd in an exhibition at the Science Museum, London and commissioned them to make us a lens to fit the camera tent. I discussed our unusual requirements with their lens designer, who came up with a 4-element construction giving a 4ft square image with a focal length of 4ft (the interior length of the camera). It proved impossible to design a wide-angle lens with such a specification (the angle of view approximates 70mm on 35mm format) giving another link with Victorian photography: wide-angle lenses did not become available for photography until after 1900. The nineteenth century look of the images is partly due to their moderately telephoto nature.

As part of the preparatory work I visited Optical Instruments in Croydon to see our lens elements being ground and polished. This was quite fascinating, and I have still to fully absorb the experience which however is partly recorded in the project video. I would like to go back in order to fully understand the considerations that affect the building of a bespoke photographic lens.

To save money the lens came without a focussing ring (although some focussing movement is possible by rotating one pair of elements against the other) and without aperture stops. Because of delays in manufacturing, the lens was only delivered a day or two before our first outing, and it was very exciting to discover on the first day how improved performance could be obtained by attaching a manual stop to the front of the lens to increase resolution and depth of field.

As a group we:

• painted the interior plywood boards
• greased metal pole ends for easy assembly & dismantling
• positioned and fixed hooks for attaching the boards to the camera frame
• measured and cut black fabric for extra light-fastness
• devised and fitted a hinged shutter to the lens
• devised and fitted a manual aperture stop
• worked out efficient method of erecting camera
• calculated and recorded practical exposure times
• discussed safe working procedures
• discovered an efficient way of working inside the camera
• mixed darkroom chemicals
• established handling routines in darkroom

Optimum focus turned out to be just beyond the focal length I had specified for the lens, (an imperfection now being dealt with) and correction was made by bolting spacer rings out between the lens and the camera body. This had the incidental effect of making the camera look more impressive.

The ‘film’ was standard variable contrast black & white photographic paper, used together with a low-contrast printing filter to soften the contrast between highlight and shadow areas. Sheets of paper were cut off a roll in the darkroom and transported in a light-tight tube to each location.

In the field the camera worked extremely well, proving quite easy to transport (with everyone carrying something), easy to set up, and genuinely light-tight even in strong Spring sunshine. The weak point light-wise was the skirt of fabric that spread out around the base on each side. On rough ground this tended to let light in, but we laid extra fabric as an internal floor and this trapped the stray light. There is no evidence of fogging on any of the 7 negatives.


Exhibition and Outcomes

In the ACE funding proposal I wrote of a desire to show that a photograph is not a direct transcription of the real world but a construction requiring imaginative interpretation. I think our large exhibited paper negatives encourage this interpretation. All displays of educational project work run the risk of looking a bit thin – so much of the activity is below the surface – and in this case the artistry is not so much in the perfection of the photographs as in the fact that they were produced at all. However the 4x3ft paper negatives do make an impact and, it is hoped that they lead spectators to look further into the project aims.

The exhibition is indeed only part of the project, and we have worked hard to ensure that other elements are visible. The Collecting Place comprises:

• Initial proposal and schedules
• 6 days contact with participants
• www.thecollectingplace.blogspot.com
• Exhibition of 7 large-format photographic negatives
• 3-minute documentary video
• Catalogue
• Media coverage
• Evaluations

Each element contains information or imagery not available elsewhere, so it is possible to examine the project from different angles.

I very much hope that the project will have a lasting legacy. The museum has already scheduled a public appearance for the camera as part of the Brontë Society Annual Weekend events in June, to which the original participants have been invited. I hope to maintain longer-term contact with them via the blog.

The existence of the giant camera and lens is a substantial educational resource for the museum, and we expect to do further work with it over the next few years.

Your comments

Andrew has selected some of the comments you made about the project:

When I first came to the Brontë Parsonage Museum I didn’t know anything about the Brontë family history. Now I have learnt how skilled the Brontës were. Charlotte, Emily and Anne were very talented authors and wrote some very famous stories. The moors had a lot of influence and memories for the Brontës and the saddest thing was none of them lived very long – Danielle Holdsworth

The thing I enjoyed about working with others was that we all worked well as a team and all had a lot of things in common – Danielle Holdsworth

Everyone had ideas and they would all come together very well for a great end result – Christina Heron

I enjoyed most being a part of the project up on Top Withens. I had never been out on the moors – Christina Heron

What I have found most difficult is hard to answer because the support and guidance we had from Simon and Andrew was so good. I don’t think I had any problems because if we couldn’t understand anything they always explained it to us – Danielle Holdsworth

The most interesting thing I’ve learnt is how you can take photos from the simplest equipment – Bethany Heron

I was most surprised by how easy it was to construct a camera.. I enjoyed the whole experience – Bethany Heron

Yesterday I liked being able to hold the Bronte things, specially the tiny book done by Charlotte. I didn't find it easy to read the words. I also liked the wooden lion which the Bronte children had played with. Making the silhouettes and being able to develop and fix them was the best part of Monday, but I did not like the dark room at first because my eyes take a long time to get used to very low light. I had not been to the National Media Museum before so today was fun and interesting. I liked the magical area where we could try out different light experiments. My granddad says he has enjoyed it as well – Amy Prior

The most important and interesting thing I have learnt about photography is that you don’t need fancy modern cameras to be able to take a photo and the way light is so important in photography. Being able to make the camera with a box was so unbelievable and the results of the pictures, which were developed, were really cool. Sunlight and a dark room to develop is the key point of photography – Danielle Holdsworth

I have used a camera before but never developed or took it so seriously, I just clicked a button and that was it. Now I realize why photography was so important to our ancestors – Danielle Holdsworth

The developing was exciting and surprising and amazing – Christina Heron

What surprised me most was the pictures appearing like magic on the paper – Christina Heron

Being in an exhibition is really exciting to me but also a bit scary because I know people all around the country will see it – Danielle Holdsworth

I would like to carry on tasking photographs and I am also going to use the new skills I have learnt from Simon. I want to frame my own work around my house – Danielle Holdsworth

After the project I think I am better at spotting things to take pictures of – Bethany Heron

from Andrew

The Collecting Place – from visitors' comments

‘Brilliant idea. Great exhibition. Wonderful for the children involved’

‘What a wonderful way to involve children in something they so often miss out on ‘

‘Fabulous. I loved it!’

‘Really good exhibition. Very interesting photographs’

‘This was a really wonderful idea, to involve children in the early days of photography … impressed by the results of the exhibition’



Congratulations to everyone involved in the Collecting Place. The exhibition is fantastic and offers a genuinely fresh view of some of the places the Brontës knew. I’ve learnt a huge amount about photography and it was wonderful to work on such an unusual project. Visitors are enjoying the exhibition and it’s good that so many people will get to find out about the project through visiting the museum and taking away the catalogue – hope you all liked the catalogue. - Andrew

Press photos

Many thanks to you all for coming on Sunday and making it an occasion! The video was up and running on Monday morning (with your suggested improvements) and you will be getting a copy of the DVD in the post, if it hasn't come already, along with the catalogue which I'm very pleased with.

I've just heard that the TES are using quite a big picture in this week's issue, out tomorrow Friday 4 May. There was a nice write-up and picture in the Keighley News on 19 April, and there may have been a news item in Amateur Photographer on 18 April, but I've not seen that. There is a full-page feature and pictures in the May edition of Worth Valley Mag. This is a free magazine delivered to local households, also available at Haworth Post Office for example.

Northern Life magazine (monthly) are meant to be running a story about the project.This is another free publication but I don't know where you can find it.

I really will get round to posting some more of my photos on the blog. You can try downloading pictures or still frames from the film if you know how to do it. I can capture DVD images in my iMovie programme, but if you want a particular image and can't do it yourself, let me know and I'll do it for you.

TES

The picture from our Top Withens expedition should have appeared in last Friday's TES (Times Educational Supplement) but I haven't seen a copy yet. I'll try and get hold of one to bring to the Museum on Sunday.

I'm about to edit the film I made (a bit haphazardly) that will be included in the display.

from Bethany

Hello everyone, I enjoyed the project very much.I wish it had been longer.I am looking forward to seeing everyone again on the Sunday.I have a copy of the T&A its a very good photograph. Can anyone tell me the name of the education supplement that the photographer who took photos on Top Withens is called. I think we were told it would be out Thursday (Today) but I don't know what I am looking for. Andrew your photos are also very good, except the one where I am eating ha ha ha. from Bethany

T & A picture

There is a picture and short item about us in yesterday's (Monday 16 April) T&A, on page 4.

Here are 2 more pics from Andrew. I'm just looking at mine - will post some on the blog later.

More pics from Andrew

Cool pics from Andrew

Trip to Top Withens

I'm very pleased that we managed the trip without mishaps. It pays to think big sometimes.

I feared that:

• it might rain
• it might be too windy for the tent
• we might get cold
• we might forget a vital piece of equipment
• the pictures might not come out properly
• Rick might leave us up there and drive off
• we might get trampled by elephants

Since none of this happened, I call it a good day.


Some useful things I have learned:

• You can make a perfectly good safelight by putting a bright LED torch into a safelight casing, if you haven't got mains electricity
• If you have several sheets of rectangular paper rolled up in a tube, you can tell which ones you have used by rolling them to be narrower than the unused ones, and taping them up so they fall into the centre of the tube
• You can learn from experience (like basing a new exposure on what worked the day before) even if you don't work things out very precisely. And sometimes precision is not the most important thing
• You can make small improvements by keeping your nerve (in my case, by adding still more plates to increase the focal length of the lens and make the pictures sharper).

Has anyone else learned useful things?

from Bethany

Yesterday we built the camera up for the first time. We did a few tests in the morning to find out the exposure time.In the afternoon we finally did a full size portrait.It was amazing to watch it being developed and to help with the process.I am still amazed at how it all works, and overwhelmed, to be a part of this project.

Today we went high up onto Haworth Moor. It was a very very exciting day! First we got to ride in a council 4x4. It was a bumpy jumpy journey.Then we built our camera. There were a few last minute adjustments and then we were off.First Amy went inside the camera and took a photo.Then Megan went inside the camera for the next photo.Then the adults lifted our camera and moved it for a different exposure. Next it was my turn to go into the camera to take a photo.Then it was time to pack up and head for our dark room .There is one word to describe the results in the dark room WOW!!!!!

from Ruth Kitchin at National Media Museum

Dear Simon,

Sorry I haven’t replied sooner. Thank you for passing on Bethany’s comments – they’re great to hear and I’m very pleased to be “the lady with the gloves”! It was very nice to meet you all – all the best with the rest of the project. If there’s anything else we can do, let me know.  

Ruth

from Andrew, 8 April

 


The Collecting Place is a fantastic project for the Brontë Parsonage to be involved in. We have some wonderful early photographs in our collection, of the Parsonage, one or two Brontës and Haworth. We looked at some of these in the first week of the project as well as other artifacts that told us about the Brontës’ lives in Haworth. Re-interpreting Brontë landmarks and landscapes using early photographic techniques, over a hundred and fifty years on from when those first images were created is going to be very exciting; like bringing the past tense into the present. Simon and the group have worked together really well and already discovered lots about how those images were created and how the camera obscura will be used in the second half of the project.  Well done everyone on what’s been a great start. I can’t wait for the next stage.


 

Questions of the week

The real question of the week is Amy's: What have the Brontës to do with photography?
Answers on the Blog, please.

But there are also questions about lenses. If a pinhole can make a picture, why do we need lenses?

One reason is sharpness- pinhole images are always slightly fuzzy, because light is scattered around the edges of the hole.

Also, pinhole exposures are very slow, because so little light actually gets through the hole (remember how that super-bright 1000 Watt lamp produced quite a dark upside-down image of itself on the white card?).

A glass lens can let a lot of light through, compared to a pinhole, and so allows the short exposures that we all take for granted.

Although most photographic lenses are mass-produced, one-off lenses can be made for special purposes like our own giant camera. Our lens was designed by a professional lens-designer in order to fit this camera obscura tent - specifically, to provide a 3ft square image at a distance of 4ft from the lens.

I hope it works!

Good news about the lens

I'm very pleased that we've been able to make real connections between the Victorian pioneer photographers and our own work at the Parsonage. The blue prints look even better now I have dried them. By taking pictures with pinhole cameras we've found out that a photographic image depends at least as much on chemistry as on lenses. And we've proved to Andrew that light travels in straight lines.

What's going to happen next week? Mysterious and exciting things I hope. After everyone had gone on Wednesday I heard that the lens is finally finished, and will be sent to the Parsonage tomorrow Thursday. So I should be able to look at it over Easter and introduce it to you next week. Here is a picture of one of the lens elements being polished in London last week.

Good to be working with you all,
Simon

from Danielle Holdsworth

I am very glad i am part of this project its the end of the first week and i have had 3 enjoyable and educational days .We have been able to handle and see original pieces from the bronte family history and learn all about been able to take pictures with flash and natural light, and also the hiistory of photography.The self made cameras we made today was so exciting to see the pictures which all of us produced in the group and the details which was captured through the self made cameras.Definatley has been an enjoyable and interesting first week .
Thankyou.

from Amy, sent on Tuesday 3 April

I have enjoyed the two days we have had so far.

Yesterday I liked being able to hold the Bronte things, specially the tiny book done by Charlotte. I didn't find it easy to read the words with them being so small. I also liked the wooden lion which the Bronte children had played with. Making the silhouettes and being able to develop and fix them was the best part of Monday, but I did not like the dark room at first because my eyes take a long time to get used to very low light.

 I had not been to the National Media Museum before so today was fun and interesting. I liked the magical area where we could try out different light experiments.

My grandad says he has enjoyed it as well.

 From Amy Prior

National Media Museum

In The Magic Factory we looked at a pinhole image, distorting mirrors, periscopes, a camera obscura image, a photo-luminiscent screen (now how does that work?) and a zoom lens plus other things.

In the Animation gallery we saw pre-cinematic optical toys including the thaumatrope and the zoetrope.

In the Kodak gallery we found a copy of the world's earliest photograph, early pictures by Fox Talbot (English) and LJM Daguerre (French), early cameras, and lots of snapshot cameras from 1890-1970. We saw a disappearing darkroom, detective cameras, a black & white photo of Haworth Moor called 'Wuthering Heights' by Alexander Keighley and more pictures of darkrooms.

In the Insight archive after lunch Ruth Kitchin showed us some rare Victorian photographs by Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins (the book of blue plant studies) and Roger Fenton (the large landscapes). We were able to handle a genuine Daguerreotype photo that had a mirror-like appearance.

... from Bethany

I really enjoyed the past two days. Monday was great I liked being able to hold the selected artifacts in my hands. I was able to look at them close up and see what they were. Some of them were more recognizable than others.I would never have known that the jewelry was in fact made from real human hair.Developing and fixing our images onto photo paper was exciting. It was a brilliant and new experience.

Today (Tuesday) equally as much fun.I have been to the National Media Museum many times in the past, but today was definitely the best. You were able to tell us stuff about the images we were looking at.For example the pinhole image. Before today that was just a name now I know what it means.I loved looking at the book in the little room. The book we were unable to touch because of its delicacy and age, it was fantastic to have the lady with the gloves turn the pages for us to look all the way through. I am looking forward to having a go at that type of imaging at home.

From Bethany Heron

Day 1

Thanks to everyone for getting things off to a great start. Here is a picture from Monday.

Camera Obscura

 

What is a camera obscura?

Camera = Latin for “room”
Obscura = Latin for “dark”

Here is a page from the website http://brightbytes.com/cosite giving a good introduction:


Go into a very dark room on a bright day. Make a small hole in a window cover and look at the opposite wall. What do you see? Magic! There in full color and movement will be the world outside the window — upside down! This magic is explained by a simple law of the physical world. Light travels in a straight line and when some of the rays reflected from a bright subject pass through a small hole in thin material they do not scatter but cross and reform as an upside down image on a flat surface held parallel to the hole. This law of optics was known in ancient times.

The earliest mention of this type of device was by the Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti (5th century BC). He formally recorded the creation of an inverted image formed by light rays passing through a pinhole into a darkened room. He called this darkened room a "collecting place" or the "locked treasure room."

Aristotle (384-322 BC) understood the optical principle of the camera obscura. He viewed the crescent shape of a partially eclipsed sun projected on the ground through the holes in a sieve, and the gaps between leaves of a plane tree.

The Islamic scholar and scientist Alhazen (Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham) (c.965 - 1039) gave a full account of the principle including experiments with five lanterns outside a room with a small hole.

In 1490 Leonardo Da Vinci gave two clear descriptions of the camera obscura in his notebooks. Many of the first camera obscuras were large rooms like that illustrated by the Dutch scientist Reinerus Gemma-Frisius in 1544 for use in observing a solar eclipse.

The image quality was improved with the addition of a convex lens into the aperture in the 16th century and the later addition of a mirror to reflect the image down onto a viewing surface. Giovanni Battista Della Porta in his 1558 book Magiae Naturalis recommended the use of this device as an aid for drawing for artists.

The term "camera obscura" was first used by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the early 17th century. He used it for astronomical applications and had a portable tent camera for surveying in Upper Austria.

The development of the camera obscura took two tracks. One of these led to the portable box device that was a drawing tool. In the 17th and 18th century many artists were aided by the use of the camera obscura. Jan Vermeer, Canaletto, Guardi, and Paul Sandby are representative of this group. By the beginning of the 19th century the camera obscura was ready with little or no modification to accept a sheet of light sensitive material to become the photographic camera. Portable and box camera obscuras from our collection are shown on another page on this site.

The other track became the camera obscura room, a combination of education and entertainment. In the 19th century, with improved lenses that could cast larger and sharper images, the camera obscura flourished at the seaside and in areas of scenic beauty. There are several pages that features images of camera obscura rooms such as this page on US park camera obscuras from our collection. Today the camera obscura is enjoying a revival of interest. Older camera obscuras are celebrated as cultural and historic treasures and new camera obscuras are being built around the world.

The Collecting Place

Where does this title come from?

It's taken from the writings of an ancient Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti in the 5th century BC. He was the first person to formally record the creation of an inverted image formed by light rays passing through a narrow opening into a darkened room. He called this 'The Locked Treasure Room' or 'The Collecting Place'.