Plato’s image of a world of shadows inhabited by prisoners has, for me, layers of meaning concerning the nature of reality and has a direct relation to the concept of the camera obscure…To me, if you vaguely compared the den to a camera obscure-the sun would be the fire and the people would sit (inside) facing the back of the camera (making room for the pinhole, of course) and would watch the figures thrown on the back (inside) of the camera. Now, going a step further, this could be considered a metaphor for life in this world-where appearances are not always true and we see as through ‘a mirror darkly’ truth to be revealed in its entirety perhaps in another world. It’s probably better not to try literally to interpret the simile, but to grasp it intuitively.
-Willie Anne Wright
Excerpt from:
Wille Anne Wright, “Photographs: Pools,” Pinhole Journal 2 (1986): 25
More Info:
Pinhole Photography: From Historic Technique to Digital Application
by: Eric Renner
Photo Info:
“Eva in a Landscape”
Photo By: Willie Anne Wright