Thanks to funding from Big Lottery’s Community Wildlife Fund, Same Sky is working with Friends of Tarner Park to create a camera obscura in the top of the tower and enrich the wildlife habitats in the park. This eye in the sky will be a view of the park and a way to look out for wildlife while enjoying a moment of peace and contemplation.
What is a Camera Obscura?
The camera obscura (Latin; “camera” is a “vaulted chamber/room” + “obscura” means “dark”= “darkened chamber/room”) is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen, wall or mirror. Traditionally used in drawing and for entertainment, it was one of the inventions that led to photography.
The most basic version consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with colour and perspective preserved. Using mirrors it is possible to project a right-side-up image.
As the pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper, but the projected image becomes dimmer. With too small a pinhole the sharpness again becomes worse due to diffraction. Our camera obscura uses a lens rather than a pinhole because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness while maintaining focus.
What will we be doing?
Artist David Watson will be installing a lens into the telescope of Mr Tarner in the door of the tower. This will project an inverted image overlooking the trees and the view of Brighton onto the back wall. In addition, a second lens will be inserted in a tube looking out of the south window into the lime tree. This will then reflect off a mirror and be directed down onto a table in the centre of the room. Seating will be added around the outside.
To encourage more wildlife to the park we will be replanting in some areas to attract more diverse species of birds and butterflies and placing bird boxes and a bird feeder in the neighbouring trees. Community Payback will be helping us paint the inside of the tower in preparation for the camera obscura and an exhibition.
Groups from Carlton Hill Primary School, the Creative Kids Club and Tarner Children and Young Peoples Project will be exploring the wildlife in the park alongside camera techniques and creating an exhibit for the bottom of the tower with artist Cynthia De Wolf.
We’ll be installing an interpretation board to show visitors what kinds of wildlife they might expect to find in the park and to explain the camera obscura. If you fancy undertaking a nature search, we’ll be creating some games and activities sheets you can download (from the Friends website and Brighton &Hove City Council website) and try out in the park.
We will then be inviting everyone (including you!) to come to a launch event on Saturday 7 January from 12noon-3pm. This will be an opportunity to explore the park and its wildlife, see the camera obscura for the first time and try your hand at some creative techniques to help you attract more wildlife to your garden. As it will no doubt be chilly, we’ll be serving hot soup and drinks. We hope that the Friends will help us welcome the public into the tower and camera obscura and show them around the park and its various wildlife habitats.
