To continue my work in experimenting the connection between environments, I have explored creating a camera obscura, inspired by the work of Abelardo Morell. ​
My plan for this experiment was to project the outdoors into my interior spaces and include objects of personal connection in a constructed set up. I wanted to explore the effect combining these two spaces have and how they influence the final feeling of the images.
​
I decided to use kitchen foil to block out the light from the window. I taped pieces together to cover the entire area and then went back and added black tape in places the light was getting through. I was not able to block out the light entirely due to masking tape not being light proof, however, I blocked out enough for the experient to work. I then transferred the piece to different rooms to explore a number of reflections and environments together.
It was interesting to discover the parts of the outdoors in which were being reflected back into the room. I initially created a hole in the kitchen foil in the centre of the window around half an inch wide, this worked for a while and provided a strong reflection however, the weather conditions were fairly cloudy and as the light got weaker, so did the reflection, I attempted adjusting camera settings however the reflection was still very weak, which is when I decided to make the hole slightly larger to around 1 inch wide. This gave me a much stronger reflection despite the clouds.
Regarding camera settings, I used a tripod for this shoot as I knew I would need a slow shutter speed to capture the optimal amount of light. Therefore, I started on a shutter speed of 6 seconds, an aperture of f/7.1 as I wanted to make sure both the objects and reflection were in focus, giving me a slightly deeper depth of field while still letting in a fair amount of light. I also had my ISO at 200 to slightly emphasise the light. Again, as the sunlight became weaker, I decreased my shutter speed to 10 seconds and which was still fairly dark and then experimented with the slowest my camera allows - 30 seconds. I left the shutter speed at 30s for the remainder of the shoot as light remained low and I found that it gave me the best exposed images. I also wanted to eliminate any kind of camera shake so I used the 2 second timer on the camera to make sure there was no movement during the exposure time.
​
One obstacle during the shoot was focus. Due to the fairly dark conditions, it was hard to see if I was getting a sharp focus on the areas I wanted. Using manual focus, I often used the torch on my phone to light up the scene where I could better see and adjust the focus accordingly which worked well, however, some images aren't as sharp as I'd like.
​
To emphasise the idea of connection through the shoot, I wanted to construct set-ups with personal objects that I have a lot of connection to - my childhood teddy, my guitar, a book, etc. Having these objects in conjunction with the view from my window, adds an extra sense of connection and specifically, the connection between people, objects, and environments. This idea was inspired my Morell's image of a child's playroom full of toys and containing the reflection of that exterior environment, I felt that image was very successful in creating an emotional reaction and therefore, wanted to work towards the same idea with my own personal connections.
​
With editing, I used lightroom to upload and select my best images, I then focused on colour and lighting. I spent a lot of time on levels, balancing highlights to shadows and ensuring the reflections were visible and obvious without being too light or dark. I also sharpened some images to enhance their quality. With colour, I wanted to follow a theme throughout of a warm, nostalgic sense as that's where I felt the images naturally wanted to go. However, I also experimented with black and white editing which I felt gave some images a more timeless and balanced tone. While I think the black and white potentially removes the larger sense of obvious nostalgia in some images, I feel that it offers a different kind of nostalgia through the idea of time gone by.​
​If I were to recreate this experiment again, I would use different tape when creating the kitchen foil piece so I wouldn't need to patch any areas and would achieve a darker more successful environment with less light. I would also pick a day with strong sunlight forecasted, avoiding cloudy days to enhance the strength of light. I would also like to experiment in more rooms and with more objects to further the connections and provide a bigger variety of images. However, for a first attempt, I am pleased with the results.
​
In the sense of what I'm working on specifically - the way environments are interconnected and influence one another despite being seen as separate, I'm very happy with how my images came out. They are very personally connected to me, in the way that these specific visuals of the outdoors often influence what is happening inside my own spaces, but additionally, I feel like they connect two separate spaces in a more general and holistic way, inviting emotion and interpretation possibilities into the images from a wider audience. ​
