Camera Obscura: Room With a View

From December 22, 2012 through April 28, 2013 in Entrance Gallery

The camera obscura is one of the discoveries that led to the invention of photography and the camera. The earliest mention of the camera obscura was by the Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti when in the 5th century B.C. he recorded the creation of an inverted, color image formed by light rays passing through a pinhole into a darkened room. He called this darkened room a “collecting place” or the “locked treasure room.”

Visitors will be able to experience a camera obscura in the Museum's Entrance Gallery. Throughout each day, movement of people and objects will be visible as viewers step into a different era of photography both in practice and theory.
A selection of pinhole cameras and cameras obscura from the Technology Collection
will be on display, as well as a photograph by Abelardo Morell.