A survey of Camera Obscuras
By Roger Smith, 2021
Fellow’s Profile
Fellow’s Profile
A survey of camera obscuras
Reporting on the condition, use and technical specification of camera obscuras throughout Europe
2008
South East
I'm retired and have found my Churchill Fellowship most helpful in supporting my interest in camera obscuras and early photography.
Following the Survey of Camera Obscuras in continental Europe, which was the topic of my Fellowship, I created a website and have restored camera obscuras and made replicas of early cameras. From this base, I became a guide at the University of Oxford's Museum of History, as well as giving demonstrations and talks, and publishing articles in bulletins of the Scientific Instrument Society. My most recent article was an account of my research and making of a replica of the world's first commercial camera – the Giroux Daguerreotype (1839).
I was also asked to make a camera obscura for the Bodleian Library's exhibition on John Aubrey and the Development of Experimental Science, followed by giving a lecture at Convocation House, Old Bodleian Library, Oxford University. A further exciting event for me was giving a talk and demonstration of a camera obscura at Chartwell House for the National Trust, linking to Churchill's paintings and the use of camera obscuras in art. Members of the public could use the camera obscuras to do drawings.
By Roger Smith, 2021
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
By Roger Smith, 2021
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.