Tent-Camera Technical Notes

My Tent-Camera is made of a simple light-proof material that wraps around a large redesigned tripod with a plate on top that holds two devices:

1: A 90-degree prism with a diopter (lens) attached. This prism acts like a periscope projecting an image of the nearby landscape on the ground below. The focus of the projected image can be adjusted by raising or lowering the height of the tent. Technically, this has the effect of changing the focal length of my lens attached to the prism. This allows us to achieve discrete focused areas of the image.

2: Next to the prism on top is a digital camera looking straight down and focused on the ground. A picture done this way shows, both the granular details of the ground: stones, grass, dirt, cement, etc. plus an added projected vista of the landscape giving the overall result an illusion of a painterly patina. The camera is connected to a laptop outside the tent which allows us to compose, focus, and view the image with precision.

While I know that technical explanations alone do not fully get to the heart of my deeper artistic reasons for exploring reality this way, I think that it is important to outline clearly how this device works and, in a sense, express what I am after. The evolution of photographic technology, since its invention in 1839, has always been tied to the artistic vision and ambition of its practitioners. My aim in this work is to ground myself in new realities! My pictures show what was there in front and under us. Nothing that was not there has been added.