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Photo 52: A Play on Light {21} - Pinhole Camera

A Room with a View

ss 6.0, f2.8, IS0 6400 (he sat REALLY still)

Photo 52: natural indoor light, week four. For those unfamiliar with our project, please start here

Last fall, fellow Photo 52 participant Justine Knight and I took a course at the International Center of Photography. Our teacher, Irina Rozovsky, introduced us to the work of a photographer named Abelardo Morell.  He has a beautiful collection of images in his Camera Obscura project and ever since seeing how he turns rooms into giant pin hole cameras, I have been determined to try it. Project 52's last week of natural indoor light seemed like the perfect time. While my images do not compare to his, the experiment was still so much fun that even the wiggliest among us sat still long enough to be included in the photos. 

To create these images, I covered the window in black garbage bags, shutting out all light. Then I cut a hole about the size of a quarter into the middle of the bag. The view from outside came streaming into the room, inverted due to the way the light bounces through the pin hole. The scene was not quite as clear as this to the naked eye but with a long exposure, the vibrant colors of the buildings and the sunny sky came out beautifully. We could even see traffic moving on the ceiling from light glinting off cars on the street below. To quote my father, "Physics is Fun." 

ss 5.0, f2.8, IS0 6400 

Please continue around the circle to see how everyone else is closing out our month on indoor natural light. Next up, Cheryl Sawyer!