Camera Obscura Workshop

In a world where photography is often reduced to a tap on a screen, this course offers something slower, richer, and far more tactile. Step away from the automated and rediscover the medium by hand building your own camera obscura, transforming simple materials into a working camera.

As light enters your handmade device, you’ll witness the image form in real time, gaining an intuitive, physical understanding of how photography truly works. The results are unlike anything produced by modern cameras: large-scale, softly rendered, painterly images that echo the earliest days of the medium.

You’ll have time to experiment, using your smartphone or digital camera to capture these unique projections. This is photography reimagined, immersive, experimental, and deeply rewarding.

Date & Time

Saturday 27 June 2026 from 10 am to 4 pm at photo access

30 Manuka Circle
Griffith ACT 2603

Program

• What is a camera obscura? An introduction to pre-photographic image-making with the camera obscura, in latin: “darkened chamber” and a look at early photography when cameras were large, lenses were imperfect, and images carried a softness
• Why Orlando is drawn to the camera obscura, and what it can open up in your own creative practice
• Build your own camera obscura using provided plans, or design something uniquely yours and in doing so, get a firsthand view of how optics and image formation work
• Use your handmade camera to create photographs – you can take it home with you
• Reflect on your results and explore directions for future work

What's provided

• Materials needed to make your camera obscura
• Cardboard boxes
• Close-up filters
• Take home notes
• A photo access notebook and pen to take notes and record discoveries
• Coffee, tea and biscuits

What to bring

• Your smartphone to take photographs (DSLR or Mirrorless cameras are not recommended as they add another layer of complexity to taking the images in your camera obscura, but if you are keen, bring along a sturdy tripod)
• Screw on close-up filters or a magnifying glass if you have them
• Your enthusiasm and your lunch!

The Fine Print

Enrolments for this workshop close at 12 pm Wednesday 24 June 2026. As a not-for-profit, our financial margins are narrow and classes require a minimum number of participants to run. In the event that photo access cancels a workshop, refunds will be paid in full or a transfer allowed free of charge. If a class is postponed, we will endeavour to reschedule at a time convenient to enrolled participants.

photo access will happily refund or transfer workshop fees up to 7 days prior to the start date of the workshop. If less than 7 days’ notice is given, photo access can offer a partial refund of 50%. Alternatively, enrolment can transfer to another workshop with a 50% transfer credit. If less than 48 hours are given, no refunds or transfers can be given.

If you are unwell and unable to make the course, please give us at least 24 hours’ notice. If you are absent from the class and have not notified us beforehand, no refunds or transfers can be given.