Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been cancelled. We hope to be able to run it again in the next year.

Following on from our popular Lens on Legacy exhibition with Queens Park Camera Club, we’re excited to offer you the chance to create your very own camera obscura – the device that paved the way for early photography!

What is a camera obscura? Camera obscura means “dark room” in Latin. It’s a simple device — a dark box or room with a tiny hole on one side. Light passes through the hole and projects an upside-down image of the outside scene onto the opposite wall.

This optical effect has been known for centuries. Artists once used it to trace accurate outlines, while scientists and map-makers relied on it to study and record the world. Camera obscuras were also used to observe solar eclipses safely — a use that continues even today.

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to how 19th-century camera obscuras, as the forerunners of the first photographs, transformed the way we viewed our cities, nature, and ourselves- leading to the development of cameras as we know them today.

You’ll then have the chance to get creative by constructing your own box camera obscura and heading out for a short exploration of the city to test it. The session will conclude with a group reflection on the experience of seeing the world through this fascinating early lens.

The workshop will be lead by Sylvia Grace Borda, she is best known for staging the first diorama artworks in Google Street View as well as for her work in documenting the former Scottish New Towns of East Kilbride and Glenrothes

All materials and lunch will be provided.