Here’s how to turn your boring garden shed into a working camera obscura with a darkroom

UK-based photographer Brendan Barry has turned quite a lot of places into giant cameras obscurae. He’s now in isolation like most of us, so even his bedroom became one. You may want to try something like that, but your family doesn’t share your enthusiasm. Well, here’s a plan B: use your garden shed. In this video, Brendan guides you through the transformation process that turns a boring old shed into a working camera obscura with built-in darkroom.

Just like in his previous projects, Brendan uses his giant camera obscura to take photos with it. If you want to transform your shed, you need to make room for the chemicals and for the developing process. Also, you’ll need to make the place completely dark, and there are several ways to do it: you can use cardboard, plywood, foam core… If your shed has windows, you can seal them with tinfoil.

If you want to take photos with your shed-camera, you’ll need to add a lens to it. You can experiment with what you already have, and Brendan uses a vintage Bausch & Lomb large format lens. You’ll also photo paper and something to hold it while you expose the image. Make sure there’s running water either in the shed or nearby, so you can rinse the paper during the development process.

You can see Brendan’s process in the video above, and learn more about making giant camera obscura in some of his earlier projects. If you don’t have the chemicals and paper, you can order all of that online so you don’t have to leave home. And in case a “camera shed” looks like too much work for you – you can turn it into a photo studio. In times like these, you gotta work with what you’ve got – and who would have thought that a boring old shed offers so many photographic possibilities? :)

[Shed Camera | Brendan Barry]