Camera Obscura

All journeys into photography should start with a camera obscura.

Yesterday I taped up by son's bedroom window with bin bags and masking tape. After cutting a small opening (about the size of a 1 cent coin, only more square than round), the scene outside was rendered upside down and reversed on the wall. We watched trains going by, trees moving in the wind and clouds drifting past.

It wasn't quite a photograph and it wasn't quite a movie. It wasn't really magical either, because it felt too primeval. It was discovering afresh something that was always there, channeling a force of nature. That was the wonder.