Roger Smith

Fellow’s Profile

Roger Smith

Fellow’s Profile

Roger Smith

A survey of camera obscuras

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Reporting on the condition, use and technical specification of camera obscuras throughout Europe

Countries

Fellowship year

2008

Locality

South East

Biography

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.

Disclaimer

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.

Disclaimer

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.

Contact this fellow

Fellow contact

Related

Newsletter Sign Up