ABSTRACT
The camera obscura consists of an enclosed darkened space with a pinhole aperture that allows a beam of light to enter that converts illuminated scenes, including its colours and movement, outside the camera obscura into an image that it projects onto a surface within. This essay describes the device’s history, both as important in the development of painting and photography, but also as a form of visual entertainment. Its role as a powerful metaphor for vision, consciousness and ideology is detailed. The camera obscura’s effects of wonder are described as a primary aspect of the device.
