“Something strange and wonderful happens when light enters a dark space through a tiny opening.” – Tom O’Niell
I recently came across Abelardo Morell’s camera obscure work at the recent Annenberg Space For Photography exhibit “National Geographic: The Power of Photography”. I was familiar with the technique from my college photography classes, but found Morell’s work captivatingly charming and visually potent. Morell states that “I love the increased sense of reality that the outdoor has in these new works. The marriage of the outside and the inside is now made up of more equal partners.”
Below are a couple of my favorites that give a whole new meaning to “a room with a view”.
View of Central Park Looking North – Fall
Time Square in Hotel Room
Boston’s Old Custom’s House in Hotel Room
Brookline Room In Brady’s Room
Morell has also developed a “Tent Camera” which is “a light proof tent which can project views of the surrounding landscape, via periscope type optics, onto the surface of the ground inside the tent.” I feel that this approach adds a dynamic layer of texture and tension to the technique as the ground surface becomes the photo canvas. Below are a couple of my favorites from this series:
View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Kirby Cove
View of Cathedral Rocks From El Captain Meadow. Yosemite National Park
View of the Grand Canyon from Mohave Point
View more samples of Morell’s work »