Each year the GCSE students undertake the task of producing photographs without the use of a camera. Understandably they are baffled by the prospect, but to get them used to the idea, and to truly understand how a camera works (and it’s relationship to the human eye), we initially create a darkened room, with only a 5p-sized hole through which to view the outside world.

The word camera derives from the Latin and means ‘room’. Camera Obscura is a darkened room and the aperture created by the small hole allows the outside world to squeeze through and project onto the walls of the room within. There is a great deal of science behind photography; physics as well as chemistry, and the students are encouraged to learn how things work through trial-and-error, experimentation, and fully immersing themselves in the project.

For examples of images made without a camera, please follow this link:

https://ricvisualarts.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/cameraless-photography-by-gcse-photography-students/

Below: The outside world is projected into a room, in full colour (and upside-down)