camera obscura

I found the camera obscura piece to be rather interesting. I have read about them in the past (in my art books) and never got the chance to see one. Even though I read about them and saw diagrams, I was still a little confused when I first stepped into the piece. I wasn't sure what the camera was doing in the corner. When I first saw the wall with the images, I didn't understand what I was seeing. I knew the image was supposed to be upside-down, but maybe I forgot when I stepped in there. I found it really interesting when people walked outside and you saw them upside down. I was thinking that would be interesting to see, and after the lecture, I got to see that. I also got to see a motorcycle go past, which was interesting, as it was different than all the cars that went past. I wish I had gotten to see a bus as well.

From the diagrams of camera obscuras I've seen, there is just one upside-down image; however in this piece, the artist put about 4 or 5 next to each other so the image filled the whole wall. Sometimes as a car went past, you could see it in two of the images (or frames I guess you could call them) at once as the car went along.

This seems like art more than film, but I guess because the images move (for example cars and people), it is also like film. The diagrams I saw just showed nature (like trees and stuff) so that stuff would have been more still; I hadn't known that you could have moving images as well...this changes the whole experience.

I think I first understood the image as I looked to the top. Then I could make out the bike racks and parking meters...if you look straight at the street and the cars, you may be a little more confused. So that's what I would do differently if I ever went into one again...try to look a the top (or bottom or some edge) first.

I thought the outside of the camera obscura (in the building) looked like it was under constuction or something.

I liked the artwork the artist showed us on the computer...I liked the clouds moving past on the three planes.