Thank You Fox Talbot
By Michael Millam
22 July 2007
As a new high school photography teacher I strive to find new ways to inspire and encourage my students to go out and take photographs. I start the year off having my students make their own camera obscura. A camera obscura or more commonly called a pin-hole camera its basically a light tight box with a hole on one end that let's light in and forms an image on the opposite side. Put a piece of light sensitive material on that opposite end and you have a camera. Usually when I first tell my students what they will be doing they are usually in doubt that a box with a soda can lens is going to take a photograph.
Behind my classroom when I arrived at my new school I found they were using it as storage during the schools remodel. I found an old filing cabinet while walking through the mess one day I asked around if I could take it to use in my room however I later got the inspiration after talking with my department chair that it could serve a better purpose of being turned into a camera obscura.
I set about working on the camera and discussing its construction with a couple of my students. Some of the asked what I was doing and got excited when I told them or didn't believe me. When it was all done and I brought it out along with the first negative and print from it the doubt was gone and they became excited by the idea that even a filing cabinet could be turned into a camera. Some students wanted their picture taken, while others wanted to go out and create their own images.
I knew I found a great project to get students excited about photography from the very start of the year. I know this year when I share those 16 x 20 photographs with them this year and discuss the project they will all be excited about making their camera obscura and excited for what the possibilities of photography could hold.
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