back to the camera obscura

camera obscura as a room images: abelardo morell , images from here

some key things discussed from the inspirational book camera obscura by aberlardo morell;

• unmediated capturing of an image
• image as its real time continues to unfold layers of meaning
• returning the art of photography to its early principles
• the primal scene of photography
• 'a cityscape becomes the rooms torment or its wish'
• outside world inside (suits my exploiting ideas about public/private ideas about sheds)
• used as a device for tracing images-vermeer, canaletto
• used in tourist resorts historically- a spy on the surrounds- 'instrument of the paparazzi'
  
• uses natural phenomena
• low budget, endlessly repeatable
• being present in the moment unfolding before you
• interesting juxtaposition and dialogue between the internal and external contents, subject, composition, layering fleetingly
  

my mum posed me an interesting question the other day about why i'm trying to do what the camera obscura has always done- ie give you an image derived from basic photographic principles viewed in real time, beyond the static. i suppose the thing here is that i am doing the same principles in a different way, but the end result is the same- its temporal, and physically performative. however, the camera obscura is clearly different in that it becomes more cinematic (it was a forerunner of cinema)- viewing the world outside the space whilst you are inside, and this is something i haven't yet explored, although the viewing a video of my story on an ipod like a tv makes me feel i'm now going a full circle. a re-considering of the camera obscura idea , not as i had previously connected with it in my shedseason proposal as linked to a giant pinhole camera to capture an image temporarily but as a fleeting, temporal image that isn't captured at all. artist Nilu Izadi, written about in a previous post, used the shed as a camera obscura, and this alongside my interest in everything being in the present moment, from liking the inherent, conversational, intimate, spontaneous nature of stand up style storytelling, to the process of image making being born and then entirely consumed in front of your eyes, has made me think about this;

what if the audience in phase one are in the big shed which is a camera obscura, projecting in the real time image of me outside the shed/in the little shed through the window/door telling my story? how could i do this? where do i situate myself, do i enter the shed- opening the door will remove the cinematic viewing instantly-like the shredder arresting and ending the moment- allowing for me to then move into either telling the story live in the shed or phase 2?

need to consider the audio with this- or how about that once the audience are inside the shed, the windows have temporary boards put onto them which have convex lenses on them, door shut to blackness, so the image projects inside on the opposite wall of me walking towards the shed, moving the boards to different windows as i move around? or using blinds to reveal/conceal.

the big thing today is that i need to forget in a sense what the story or narrative is and work out the ideas of big shed as a camera you sit inside, and little shed as the darkroom