Nature Photography How To

Cuban-born photographer Abelardo Morell has been making and using walk-in camera obscuras for the past 15 years with the goal of capturing the outside world in interesting and unique ways. His latest effort is essentially a giant pinhole camera that collapses and folds up like any large tent. Morrell took the above image of the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park.

 

A photo posted by Abelardo Morell (@abelardomorell) on Nov 9, 2015 at 10:47am PST

Born in Havana in 1948, Morrell immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1962. He received an MFA from the Yale University School of Fine Art in 1981. Since then his photography has been displayed in a number of galleries and museums, including the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

 

A photo posted by Abelardo Morell (@abelardomorell) on Jun 15, 2015 at 11:21am PDT

Morrell worked with his assistant C. J. Heyliger to design the light-proof tent that he explains, “can project views of the surrounding landscape, via periscope-type optics, onto the surface of the ground inside the tent.” Inside the tent, he then “photographs the outdoor realities meeting on the ground.”

 

A photo posted by Abelardo Morell (@abelardomorell) on Nov 9, 2015 at 10:51am PST

Interestingly, Morrell notes that his method of  observing the landscape from within specially equipped tents was practiced by 19th century artists, even before the advent of photography. The artists then traced what they saw on paper. Morrell used his tent camera to capture the photo above of a worker at Monet’s garden in Giverney.

While not revealing the specific equipment he uses, Morrell says the “digital technology in my camera lets me record visual moments in a much shorter time frame, and I can now get clouds and people to show up in some of the photographs.”

 

A photo posted by Abelardo Morell (@abelardomorell) on Nov 9, 2015 at 10:49am PST

You can see more of Morrell’s fascinating work on his website and Instagram page. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at @ShutterbugPix where we’re sharing our favorite photos from our followers. And be sure to take a look at our earlier story about a Russian photographer who made a walk-in camera obscura from an old truck.