The camera obscura - Latin for "dark room" - was a sort of giant camera that Victorians could enjoy along with the other delights of the seaside, for they were usually found on popular beaches or in parks - anywhere that tourists and passers-by could enjoy them.Briefly, the camera obscura works on the optical principle that when a pinhole of light is admitted to a dark room, the rays of light order themselves into an upside-down image of what is outside. The camera obscuras of the Victoria era were fitted with a lens (to sharpen the image that was created by the thin ray of light) and with a mirror to cast the image onto a horizontal viewing surface.
The camera obscura was first developed by the Islamic scholar Al-hazen in the 10th century, and was mentioned by Da Vinci in his notebooks. However, it was not until the 18th century that the portable, box version (the pinhole camera) was developed as an artist's tool, as well as the room-sized version. The 19th century was the real heyday of the walk-in camera obscura. They were popular all over the US and Europe.
The Eastbourne camera obscura dates from 1901 (some sources say 1888, however) and is the only one still in operation in the world that is located on a pier. It is well worth visiting if you go there, as long as you don't mind heights! I do, but I was so excited at the prospect of seeing one that I braved the sensation of being so far up, so far out from the land!The Eastbourne camera obscura is in a VIctorian white onion dome of a building, located at the far end of the pier. It is placed high above several flights of stairs so that one can get a good view of the pier, the beach and the ocean - and this is really effective!
No comments:
Post a Comment