Camera Obscura

Hello there. My name is Camera Obscura. That sounds very fancy, but it just means ‘dark room’. I have a wonderful secret. If you go inside a very dark room, and I make a tiny, little hole in one wall, something amazing happens. A picture of the whole world outside pops up on the wall across from the hole. It’s like a secret movie. But, shhh, there is one silly thing about my picture. It’s all upside down. Isn't that funny? Trees grow down from the ceiling and clouds float on the floor.

I am very, very old. A long, long time ago, even before the year 1000, clever people found my secret. A kind scientist named Ibn al-Haytham looked through my little hole to see the bright, bright sun without hurting his eyes. He was so smart. Much later, around the year 1500, artists became my friends. They would sit inside me and look at the pictures I made of big castles and smiling people. They would trace my upside-down pictures to help them draw and paint. I loved helping them make beautiful art for everyone to see. I felt so proud to show them the world in a new way.

My simple idea started to grow up. People gave me a shiny glass lens to make my pictures extra clear and bright. Then, they found a way to save the pictures I made, so they wouldn't disappear. I am the great-great-grandparent of all the cameras you see today. The camera in your grown-up's phone that takes pictures of you smiling and playing uses my same secret. Every time you look at a happy photo, you can think of me, the little dark room that first showed the world how to paint with light.