Fine Art by Don Whittemore

The Camera Obscura

The reconstruction of a seventh-century camera obscura that Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675) may have used for paintings produced from 1657 – 1675

Here is a teaser for the two camera obscura I built over the summer. This view is from a dark closet looking into my bedroom.  The placement of the chest on the left and chair on the right shows how the proper perspective can be achieved using a camera obscura. The image went through the lens, reflected on a 45 degree mirror, through a glass plate and onto tracing paper.

I like the soft focus projected onto the tracing paper. Brighter lighting or more transparent tracing paper would produce a sharper image. More photos and construction details will follow soon. Stay tuned!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 9,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.