Learn How Cameras Work at "Walk Inside the Camera"
Opening Tuesday, August 21, 2007
(BROOKLINE, MA: June 28, 2007) Have you ever wondered how cameras work? Did you know a regular room could be converted into a camera?
Come visit the Brookline Arts Center's "Walk Inside the Camera," a full-size replica of a camera obscura. The entire BAC gallery space will become a camera, where visitors can learn about the art, science and technology of photography.
"Walk Inside the Camera" is being offered by the Brookline Arts Center from August 21 to September 14, 2007. It is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 4:30 PM and admission is free.
The camera obscura is an ancient optical device developed by a Muslim -- Al-Hazen (965-1039 CE) -- and described in the 15th century by Leonardo da Vinci. Used frequently in drawing, the camera obscura (or "dark room") is one of the fascinating ancestral threads leading to the invention of photography.
Viewers will enter a darkened room -- essentially a 10ft by 18ft camera -- with the only light projected on the wall from outside the building via a small hole. As light comes through the hole, an image is cast on the opposite wall. Due to the nature of light waves, the image is projected upside down! If the image outside is moving -- as on a windy day, or when someone runs by -- the image inside also moves! Room-size camera obscura were built during the 19th century as tourist attractions, often at seaside resorts. Some camera obscura still exist, the closest being in Portland, Maine at the Children's Museum
The camera obscura will introduce visitors to the early origins of our image- and information-saturated contemporary culture. "Walk Inside the Camera" will be a great experience for families and friends to explore together.
