Abelardo Morell

I love it when I stumble across an artist whose work I haven't seen for awhile. Such was the case recently when I found a link to a cool camera obscura image of the New York City skyline.

The Chrysler Building in Hotel Room, 1997

In fact, the link led to a whole gallery of them from all over the world!

Camera obscura is the original camera. From the Italian meaning "dark room," it's the foundation upon on which all cameras past and present are built - a dark chamber where light passing through a small opening on one side projects a mirror image of what's outside the chamber (though upside down and flipped horizontally). No glass even required! Camera obscura were originally used by artists to aid in  sketching scenes. When light sensitive materials were introduced, photography was born. Morell basically turns his hotel room into a giant pinhole camera.

But cityscapes aren't the only subject Morell captures. One of his coolest, and simplest, is actually his first - a camera obscura capturing a light bulb from 1991.

Light Bulb, 1991