Content

It is the wealth, the complexity and most of all the speed of images that make it particularly difficult for us to really see them. Camera obscura and Camera lucida are used here as a method to create a certain distance towards that which has been per ceived and is supposedly well-known.

They enable a conscious dialogue with the act of perception. As a consequence they offer a deceleration of seeing through having to wait for the pictures to appear in the dark room (camera obscura) and through one’s own drawing process (with the help of the camera lucida).

Objectives

Seeing in slow motion: Capturing a visual moment by means
of photography and drawing requires looking carefully: a conscious selection of the details, focussing on a certain phenomenon (silhouette, highlights, structures, contrasts, composition, etc.). We are trying to make the process of seeing memorable, communicative, variable or comparable. The act of slow copying or outlining selected elements of the whole view by means of camera obscura and/or camera lucida should help us to see more intensively and consciously.

Organisation

Camera obscura as a room camera
“Slowing down the eye” can be experienced particularly well in a room-sized camera obscura which consists of a darkroom that is big enough for the students to enter.

The fascination of this installation lies in the aspect of waiting for the pictures (the eye takes about 15–20 minutes to adapt). During this waiting time in a room that is almost free of stimuli a kind of tension develops. Light from the outside is admitted into the darkroom only through a minute opening, and a projection of the outside can be seen in the interior of the darkroom. The slowness of the emerging picture allows an intensive viewing experience, produces astonishment and gradual recognition.

The stage of darkness can be used to talk about seeing, the speed of the visual stimuli, their constant presence etc. (see “Questions”). Expanding the aperture allows the discussion of visual phenomena such as sharpness and fuzziness, the change of the position of the pinhole opens up choices for selecting picture details. The picture in this camera obscura changes all the time. It depends on the situation of the room (inside), the time of day, of the light conditions outside: The weather is changing, the wind is moving the trees, a car is passing by … The people in the room, too, can move, walk around with “picture traps” (white screens, drawing paper, …) and capture and stress certain outside details on pieces of strongly reflecting backgrounds.

Experimental setup: room with window to the north, daylight, bright walls, the possibility of dimming the room with black foil. Required time for construction and projection is approx. 2 hours.

Camera obscura and Camera lucida as a drawing camera
Camera obscura II (Image 3) — Here it is the handy, portable version of the camera obscura used as a drawing camera and a camera lucida (Image 4 and 5) for sketching. Their strengths is in the ease of handling. They both allow drawing “without losing one’s face”, one cannot fail and does not have to be “talented”.

If you can see and write you can also draw. Both tools allow visual impressions to be captured, however you need to get used to them. The construction process of the two cameras is not discussed here; these descriptions can be found on the enclosed CD of “The Learning Eye”.

Both camera obscura and camera lucida are helpful tools in the search for certain frames, but they primarily support independent and casual sketching.

Observation skills are trained by selecting specific optical stimuli, consciously choosing partial aspects of the world of images: highlights, dark spots, certain colours, forms or struc-tures. That way, both tools offer the possibility of gradually working out visual impressions. The different traces show a range of fragmentary compositions of the projected environment on a two-dimensional drawing plane. These cameras are also well suited for filtering screen images and applying graphical analysis — a real active school for the learning eye.

Situations: In the café, the view from the room through the window, in front of the television set or PC screen, use of lamps for illuminating a desk or a room. The drawing area should be slightly shaded. Time needed for outlining: approx. 1 hour.

Digital camera
The digital camera can be used to capture the situations and frames described above. These pictures can be taken for comparisons with the sketches (visual diary), they can also be proceeded further under certain graphical aspects: a transparent paper is put on the printout of a picture — certain frame elements such as silhouettes, highlights, composition are roughly traced (cf. above, and Image 6).

Situation: desk work, time approx. 1 hour

Variations & Extensions

Constructing the Camera obscura as a drawing camera: approx. 5 hours. Constructing the Camera lucida: approx. 2 hours. This camera consists of acrylic glass and acrylic mirrors set at an angle of 45 degrees to each other. The special feature of this camera is the fact that both the projection of the environment on the drawing space and the tracing hand are visible at the same time. Variation: Use of an overhead projector.

Questions

• Do I know a suitable room for installing a walk-in camera?
• Do the outside and the inside space provide an interesting contrast?
• Why is the image on the wall upside-down?
• When did you last look at a picture for 20 minutes?
• Is it possible to brighten up the projection?
• What role does the size of the hole play?
• When did you draw last?
• What objects and situations would I like to draw?

• What differences do you find between photographic and drawn image?