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Camera Obscura
Toy soldiers
Inspired by a post on social media of a father and daughter really enjoying a 1745 rebellion game played with printed plexiglass 'flats', we thought ' Kids, Fun, Redcoats - just the thing we need at our events .....click to read more
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We have made a camera obscura! Cromford Mill in Derbyshire made a perfect backdrop for recreating images in the style of Paul Sandby, 18th century artist who was employed by the British Army to record images of soldiers and camp life.
![Cromford Mill June 2021](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_0f4bd8e13d0f45789ae083c6a481f2c4~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1077,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/c46909_0f4bd8e13d0f45789ae083c6a481f2c4~mv2.jpg)
![Cromford Mill June 2021](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_8d648999131b4d3d8bd3a3f5d705b728~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1307,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/c46909_8d648999131b4d3d8bd3a3f5d705b728~mv2.jpg)
![Cromford Mill June 2021](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_784febf336bf46629f648158ffd6f801~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/c46909_784febf336bf46629f648158ffd6f801~mv2.jpg)
![Cromford Mill June 2021](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_0f4bd8e13d0f45789ae083c6a481f2c4~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_1077,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/c46909_0f4bd8e13d0f45789ae083c6a481f2c4~mv2.jpg)
Camera Obscura is the latin for 'dark chamber'. The camera works best in bright light, with a black wool blanket covering the artist and the glass screen. The image comes in through the lens, which is fixed to a sliding drawer to enable some focussing. The image hits a first surface mirror and is projected onto the glass plate, onto which a piece of semi transparent paper is placed. The image is reversed. By using soft pencil, this image can then be placed onto art paper and rubbed over to transfer the image and finish with pen and ink, as can be seen in the Sandby picture below. Below left is the image of the soldier projected onto the paper, with the drawing just moved to one side to check the outline.
Please click through the slideshow
(click an image to view full screen)
![210270809_126245732971809_1631669241043959779_n.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_33595eca2f6b49748abc4b069718e0a0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_379,h_505,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/210270809_126245732971809_1631669241043959779_n.jpg)
![Sandby.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c46909_39d9bb5c0bc54dae87c1b80ed13bc23b~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_99,y_168,w_359,h_627/fill/w_299,h_520,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Sandby.jpg)
A Soldier. About 1749. National Gallery of Scotland
"Ooh, what's that?" "Hey, come and look at this"
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