You might wonder who it was who invented the camera and photography as a practice. These are very different things, as it turns out, but we're going to start with the examination of the camera since that happened long before the actual recording of images that happened as photography became a practice around 1839 when Louise Daguerre and Joseph Neipce collaborated via letter-writing to discover the chemistry that analog photographers use to make a record an image in the darkroom.
The first record of the camera obscura seems to be in the writings of Mozi (470 to 390 BCE). He was a Chinese philosopher who affirmed that the image in a camera obscura is flipped upside down because light travels in straight lines from the source itself or from an object the light is reflected off of. Later, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), who you are undoubtedly more familiar with, published the first clear description of the camera obscura in Codex Atlanticus (1502).
Perhaps you've seen the movie about Vermeer, The Girl with the Pearl Earring? If you haven't, here's a clip of how he may have used the principles of the camera obscura in his work. (There's actually an entire movie made by Tim Jenison, Tim's Vermeer, that questions this idea in a brilliant way. If you're interested, here's a trailer to the feature length film that is entertaining and explains his ideas much more thoroughly.)
It's astonishing to think that the camera obscura is truly just a dark chamber (often as simple as a box) with a hole in it that projects the outside world into the opposite wall from that hole. Such a simple principal, at first, was used to develop more realistic paintings and drawings, but as you know, eventually became what we now call the camera. Still, many people use the camera obscura's projections in their artwork. Here are a few artists who very specifically use these simple, but amazing principles.
John Chiara - oversized camera obscura / pinhole camera
Ann Hamilton - mouth-sized camera
Abelardo Morell - photographs of camera obscura projections / process video
Abelardo Morell's work is a great example of how you might complete this assignment. That said, I do not expect that you'll buy a tent or a lens or anything to complete this. Consider that if there is light on one side of a hole (whether that's literally a hole or a patch of leaves forming an aperture or a lens or so many other possibilities) and less light on the other side, there will be an upside-down reflection of that light on the opposite surface. Using that principle of light, make a camera obscura and take a photograph of the set-up and the resulting image. You can use a space in nature, a closet, a box, anything that might result in a dark chamber. All you'll need to do is have one hole of light coming through to make the projection of light. Take a photograph of that projection.
If you're struggling to understand this principle, here's a quick podcast video, The Art of Photography, that will explain it all over again.
And here are a few examples from the last time we tried a project like this...
Submit your image to the Schoology assignment called Camera Obscura by February 10.
25pts. / Detail - The main goal of this project is for you to clearly understand the principles of light that we've spent time talking about in this unit. Is there evidence in the resulting image of a space that you've darkened, put a hole into, and projected an upside-down image? If you understand that and can take this even further, be purposeful about choosing your location and materials to make the image not only utilitarian (for a grade), but for the purpose of being creative.
25pts. / Lighting - How intentional have you been with the light you've chosen? Is the light that streams into the room pleasing to your eye? Furthermore, can we see the image well enough to distinguish details?
25pts. / Creativity - Again, the goal is simply to understand some of the history behind the making of a camera and to understand the optics a bit better, but you can take the idea and push yourself to be creative with the idea and the environment where you take the final image. Have you done anything to show evidence of creativity within the process of making this image?
25pts. / Craftsmanship - How do all of the components of the project carefully come together in a photograph that feels professional and purposeful?
Credits:
Created with images by Jonatan Pie - "Long exposure selfie, standing on a car and remotely triggering the camera on a nice warm and dark night" • Christian Fregnan - "Drifter a project by Studio Drift, showed at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. From their site: Drifter “how does your perception of the world shift as you realize that what we take for granted now – a world composed of huge, immensely strong and stable structures – was once considered utopia?”" • Markus Spiske - "#stayhome – Boy with creative handmade cardboard box roboter simulation. Made with Canon 5d Mark III and analog vintage lens, Leica Summicron-R 2.0 90mm (Year: 1981)" • Fotorech - "lamp light hand"