Waitsburg photographer and muscian creates digital pinhole images

WAITSBURG-A local musician, educator, instrument builder, photographer, and seeker of knowledge has combined camera obscura technology with digital convenience. Carrie Hendrix took a break from building musical instruments to make a camera obscura to aid her drawing.

Using information from "The Birth of Photography" by Brian Coe, she learned how to construct her first camera obscura. Using her strengths in problem-solving and craftsmanship, she created the portable optical device using a lens from a pair of binoculars. Painted black, it looks like an 1800s camera.

Camera obscuras (Latin for "dark room") are the forerunner of the modern camera. Initially, a large, darkened room with a small hole to one side would project an image on the opposing wall or a large table. The image would be projected upside down and reversed.

Eventually, artists of the time began using the devices to lay out images for paintings or engravings. Adding an angled mirror inside the box would reflect the image right side up, though still horizontally reversed.

The British artist, David Hockney, wrote "Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters," concluding that many of the old masters, including da Vinci and Caravaggio, used optical devices to create their hyperrealistic paintings. One clue that artists used camera obscura was the sudden increase of left-handed portrait subjects. Remember, the camera flips the image horizontally, left is right, and right is left.

Hendrix initially created her camera obscura as a drawing tool. She would place paper inside the large black box where the image would be projected. Sitting with the camera on her lap, and fabric over her head to block unnecessary light, she would trace the image. Though she produced many beautiful drawings, it was not as satisfying as she'd hoped.

She decided to experiment with photographing the projected image with a digital camera. Enlarging the viewer on top of the box allowed her to position a digital camera to take photos. To manipulate the picture further, she began placing textured paper to add subtle patterns of shadow.

The resulting photographs mimic those made by pinhole cameras. Pinhole cameras are camera obscuras and use photographic film to directly record the images projected through a tiny hole or a lens.

Going from drawing to photographing the images meant Hendrix had a new set of problems to solve. After Hendrix went through several point-and-shoot digital cameras, she moved on to a heartier SLR Nikon. This required a larger opening on the top to accommodate the Nikon lenses.

The first camera obscura had to be large enough to allow her to draw inside the box. The boxy device was too large to align the digital camera with the viewer on top and be able to look through it easily.

She solved this by creating a smaller version based on drawings from Coe's book. It has an antique look, made of wood with ornate metal trim. The lens has been repurposed from a pair of opera glasses. It is small enough for Hendrix to place the Nikon over a large opening on the top of the box.

She has produced photographs of events, landscapes, and buildings with these cameras. Hendrix says she prefers using her creations to photograph landscapes and subjects at a longer distance. The slightly blurred and dreamy images look ageless. A perfect mash-up of early optics and current digital technology.

More of Hendrix's photography is included in the online edition at waitsburgtimes.com.