Tent-Camera Image: View of 30 Rockefeller Plaza Building Looking West from 1 Rockefeller Plaza, 33rd Floor Terrace, New York City, 2024
Tent-Camera Image: Cluster of Buildings, Providence, RI, 2023
Tent-Camera Image: Industrial National Bank Building, Providence, RI, 2023
Tent-Camera Image: Providence Power Station #1, Providence, RI, 2023
Tent-Camera Image: Providence Power Station #2, Providence, RI, 2023
Tent-Camera Image: Tree Trunk, Bowdoin Pines, 2022
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Empire State Building Looking West from 512 W. 22nd St. Roof, 2019
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of Times Square From 48th Street, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of Manhattan Looking East From 48th Street, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of Manhattan Looking Southwest From 48th Street, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: View of Hill in Outskirts of Florence on Stone Tiles, Italy, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: View of Villa La Pietra. Florence, Italy, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: View of Florence from Giardino Bardini, Italy, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: View of Florence from San Minitato al Monte, Italy, 2017
Tent-Camera Image: Les Invalides On Terrace Floor, Paris, France, 2016
Tent-Camera Image: The Eiffel Tower On Terrace Floor, Paris, France, 2016
Tent-Camera Image: The Manhattan Bridge on Wood Boards, 2015
Tent-Camera Image: Home Plate, Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL, 2014
Tent-Camera Image: Landscape on the Outskirts of Toledo, Spain, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: Detailed View of Toledo, Spain, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: Door of the Lions Toledo Cathedral, Toledo, Spain, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: General View of Toledo, Spain, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: Zakim Bridge, Boston, Massachusetts, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Golden Gate Bridge From Kirby Cove, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Golden Gate Bridge From Battery East, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Golden Gate Bridge From Battery Yates. 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Sea From Winslow Homer’s Studio Backyard, Prouts Neck, Maine, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of The Brooklyn Bridge, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of Midtown Manhattan Looking East, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View of Lower Manhattan, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop view of Midtown Manhattan Looking South East, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: Rooftop View Of The Brooklyn Bridge, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: View of Landscape Outside Florence, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: View of Rome from the Spanish Academy, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: View of Roman Sculpture in Palazzo dei Conservatori, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: The Florence Baptistry, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: View of 1221 Avenue of the Americas Building Looking West from 1 Rockefeller Plaza, 33rd Floor Terrace, New York City, 2024
Tent-Camera: Images on the Ground
Since 1991 I have converted rooms into Camera Obscuras in order to photograph the strange and delightful meeting of the outside world with the room’s interior. In an effort to find new ways to push this technique, I have worked with my assistant, C.J. Heyliger, on designing a lightproof tent, which can project views of the surrounding landscape, via periscope type optics, onto the surface of the ground inside the tent. Within this darkened space I use a camera to record the sandwich of these two outdoor realities meeting on the ground. Depending on the quality of the surface terrain, these views can take on a variety of painterly effects.
The added use of a digital technology camera lets me record visual moments in a much shorter time from — for instance I can get clouds and even people to show up in some of the photographs.
Observing the landscape with specially equipped tents was practiced by some artists in the 19th century in order to trace on paper what they saw. Interestingly, this approach to picturing the land was taken even before the invention of photography. My tent-camera liberates me to use the Camera Obscura technique in places where it would have been previously impossible to work, because I now have a portable room, so to speak.
Tent-Camera Image: View of Jordan Pond and The Bubble Mountains. Acadia National Park, Maine, March, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: View Looking Southeast Toward The Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2010
Tent-Camera Image: Rio Grande Looking Toward Mexico Near Boquillas Canyon, Texas, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Rio Grande Looking Southeast near Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Rio Grande and Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Grand Tetons and Snake River on Sidewalk, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: View of Mount Moran and the Snake River From Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: View of Old Faithful Geyser. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Grand Canyon and Lower Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: The Colorado River Looking Northwest Moab, Utah, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah, 2011
Tent-Camera Image: View of Cathedral Rocks From El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: El Capitan From Cathedral Beach, Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Half Dome From Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Bridalveil Fall From Northside Drive, Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Yosemite Valley From Tunnel View. Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. Yosemite National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Grand Canyon From Mohave Point, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of the Grand Canyon From Trailview Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: Boulders near Live Oak, Joshua Tree National Park, CA, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Lake Crescent Looking Northwest. Olympic Peninsula National Park, Washington, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Sea Stack. Ruby Beach. Olympic National Park. Washington, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Sea Stacks Looking North. Ruby Beach. Olympic National Park. Washington, 2012
Tent-Camera Image: View of Garnet Hill, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: Tower Hill, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2013
Tent-Camera Image: Sand Beach and Rocks, Acadia National Park, Maine, March, 2010
National Park Tent-Camera
I have always loved The 19th Century photographs of the American West by Carleton Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan and William Henry Jackson but, when I had a commission to photograph these landscapes anew, the work of these men daunted me—so much so that, for a long time, I couldn’t imagine how I would approach making landscape images myself. But like many immigrants, I felt moved to explore the vastness of my adopted country. To picture America’s national parks, I invented a device—part tent, part periscope—to show how the immediacy of the ground we walk on enhances our understanding of the panorama, the larger world it helps to form. I wanted to find a way to make these well-known views of familiar and iconic places into my own private discoveries.
Jamie M. Allen of the George Eastman Museum describes what I do with my tent-camera better than I can in his book Picturing America’s National Parks (2016): “The resulting photographs are a mix of image and texture. The image is that of a common scenic view; the texture, however, is derived from the land itself, the very spot where one stands to experience the scenery. The ground cover – dirt, tocks, grass and sand – typically lies at the onlooker’s feet, ignored in favor of the vista. Morell, conversely, ties the ground to the scenic view, transforming the geology of the landscape into his canvas”.
The fourth century poet, Lu Chi, wrote: “We enclose boundless space in a square foot of paper”. I know he was defining the task of the poet but, to me, his words shape my own ambition as a photographer.
The History of my Tent Camera
Observing the landscape with specially equipped tents and lenses was practiced by artists in the 18th and 19th century and even earlier in order to trace on paper what they saw projected in the darkness of their tents. Interestingly, this approach to picturing the land was taken even before the invention of photography in 1839.
In considering this old way to envision the landscape I began to design ways that I could use to do the same thing in 2010. Over the years my design has improved my picture making and now with my latest incarnation of the Tent Camera my pictures have become sharper and more vivid. This is the device that I used to make pictures in the South of France in the Summer of 2022
Essentially, I am now using a light tight tent with a periscope type lens on top so that any landscape can be projected onto the ground inside the darkened space of the tent. I also have a digital camera next to the periscope looking down towards the ground to capture the sandwich of the landscape projection and the dirt and rocks of the ground surface. I no longer need to be inside the tent because my camera is operated with a connected laptop outside. This new design is smaller and more portable too.
