I spent some of today perusing Abelardo Morell‘s new camera obscura images, and I’m just lost in the dreaminess of it all. In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept of the c.o., here’s a rundown courtesy of Wikpedia:
The camera obscura (Latin veiled chamber) is an optical device used, for example, in drawing or for entertainment. It is one of the inventions leading to photography. The principle can be demonstrated with a box with a hole in one side (the box may be room-sized, or hangar sized). Light from a scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface where it is reproduced, in color, and upside-down. The image’s perspective is accurate. The image can be projected onto paper, which when traced can produce a highly accurate representation.
Morell’s camera obscura images are made in darkened rooms with often very interesting cityscapes and landscapes outside. His exposures can last up to eight hours. Here are some recent creations, along with snippets of interviews I find interesting. You can check out the full interviews here and here.
Have a great weekend, tripoders!
Camera Obscura: View of Landscape Outside Florence in Room With Bookcase. Italy, 2009
The luxury of view camera is that you can actually see in the ground glass, everything. It’s not like it’s in a book and it’s going to run away with a spoon . You can actually have a frame maybe closer, and then you make several and then you edit later. But I don’t crop. I don’t need to crop.
Camera Obscura: Garden With Olive Tree Inside Room With Plants, Outside Florence. Italy, 2009
A photograph is a photograph. When I am making a picture I am just interested in making a very interesting photograph. I don’t care where it’s going to go. I feel like I am in a lucky position to do whatever I want. And, if the results please, that’s fine. But I am just interested in making my own very personal take on something interesting to others.
Camera Obscura: Chianti Landscape Inside Room With Roberto Barni Art Works. Italy, 2009
Chance plays some role in most everything that I do but a lot of my pictures are made with premeditation. The earlier street photographs of people did depend very much on chance since things in life can change so fast. I must tell you , however, that the work that I like the most surprises me beyond what I had expected.
Camera Obscura: View of Landscape Outside Florence Looking East Toward Where Galileo Died in Exile. Italy, 2009
The first roll of photographs I took made me know that I had discovered my way of expression. I have tried other forms of art making but I’m pretty bad at drawing and painting. At one point I had considered becoming a percussionist but I had a hard time learning to read music. The thing I liked about photography, right away, was the freedom to decide quickly without much thought where a good picture could be.
Camera Obscura:5:04 AM Sunrise Over the Atlantic Ocean. Rockport, Massachusetts, June 17th, 2009
The thing that makes me want to make pictures now is just looking without many prejudices. The stuff right under your eyes is the most wonderful universe-if you care to look with young eyes.