The
Bournemouth |
Our Visit Well worth a visit if you are ever in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, is the new Bournemouth camera obscura. The camera obscura was opened in August 1999. When we visited it in April 2000 we were among the first 50 visitors. It is situated in Bournemouth Square, which has just been renovated. The square now includes a Millenium Flame and cobblestone mosaic, alongside the Obscura Cafe which has the camera obscura located on the first floor. The weather on the day of our visit was bright and sunny, which helps, as on overcast days the images would be considerably fainter. As it was only April, and the summer season was not yet under way, we had to arrange our visit with the cafe manager. We are not sure what the normal arrangements are, but we waited at a table for a few minutes until the manager himself was free to take us up to the first floor viewing chamber. The chamber was reached by a lift, which darkened as it ascended. The lift opened into the obscura chamber, which was also darkened, so as to make the image appear as bright as possible. The obscura chamber is a large circular room with a 1.8m diameter circular table in the centre, onto which the image is projected. The table is white, as could be expected, and the height is adjustable so the image can be focused. The image comes into the chamber by way of the rotating clock cupola, some 6m above, which houses the optics. One of the clock faces has been removed and replaced by a plain glass window, to facilitate a complete all round viewing of the square and the neighbouring park. Of course, this arrangement could cause slight confusion for people outside the obscura who simply want to know the time! The image itself covered the whole of the viewing table, and was sharp and bright. My ten year old son, Adam, was intrigued to discover that he was watching real people wandering around in the square, blissfully unaware that they were being observed. If you have never visited a camera obscura before, I can thoroughly recommend that you do. The vivid images produced by these instruments are quite enchanting. Technical details Main lens
Mirror
Azimuth adjustment is
performed by rotating the entire clock cupola. Other
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