Claire Douglas: building and using the Camera Obscura

My Materials: knife, scissors, converse shoe box, big cardboard box, tape, pen, lens,..coffee.

A few hiccups with the camera obscura: My inner box was too long to sharply focus, cut excess to make it more shallow. I liked having a shoe box so that I cold flip open the top to move the inner screen.

Photograph of the Airthrey Castle at dusk: the sun setting made an intensely bright spot in the middle of all my photos. June 19, 2011. I liked the far away view of the looming castle. The off center focus makes the photo more dramatic. All photos taken with my iphone.

Airthrey Castle: I liked the angle of the tower. Sunset made the bright spot in the middle. I liked the detail able to be seen in the center contrasted with the blurred edges.

This photo happened because i stepped into the shadows to capture a rose bush growing up the side of the Airthrey Castle. The sun was coming from behind me and really focused in on that one spot. Only the middle showed up in color, zeroing in on that one flower.

This picture was also taken at the back of the Airthrey Castle. 19/06/11. dusk. I got down on the level of the staircase and shot through the holes in the concrete. I liked the way the holes glowed and how the faint pink tones in the clouds were visable

My first issue was that the inner box that I made and stretched the bag over was too flimsy and thus became distorted. The bag wrinkled once inside the outer box. I tried again and was sure to use more exact measurements and I tried to use even pressure while taping on the white tesco bag. The second time the screen was more taught and more smooth. I also made my box more shallow a second time so that it could be more sharply focused. However the inner box was slightly smaller than the first and shifted some while I was shooting. After I finished shooting I realized that my lens may have been on backwards... but im not sure. I liked the way my pictured turned out so im not sure if it matters.