Photographers turn Paris apartments into pinhole cameras

Photographers Romain Alary and Antoine Levi have literally turned Paris apartments into pinhole cameras using the ancient “camera obscura” technique.

Photographers are usually part of a creative bunch. However, sometimes they will run out of ideas. It has happened before and it will happen to every artist out there. Thankfully, inspiration can come from the least likely of places and Romain Alary and Antoine Levi can testify to that.

Romain Alary and Antoine Levi got inspired by an Indian hotel room which acted like a camera obscura

The cousins have embarked on a great journey in 2009. Their goal was to visit and capture photos by traveling from Paris to Tokyo and all the places in between. Travel photography is always nice, but you have to rest. Anyway, just as Romain and Antoine were waking up in a hotel room in India, they have noticed something that would inspire their next project.

While getting up in Pushkar, India the duo noticed a tiny pinhole that was projecting upside-down color images on the ceiling. It was an entirely accidental process but it worked just like a camera obscura. Some of the best art projects have resulted by accident and the photographers were not going to let this slip away.

As a result, they have decided to create pinhole cameras of their own as soon as they get back. When they arrived, the Stenop.es website has been born as the duo’s photography project website.

Photographers started searching for Paris apartments that could be turned into pinhole cameras

Once they have returned to France, Romain Alary and Antoine Levi have begun working on their pinhole camera plans. They say that everything worked out better than first expected as the walls of the Parisian apartments have done a tremendous job in showing the relationship between the landscapes and interiors.

Nevertheless, finding apartments in Paris that could provide exciting views has been a hard task. The surroundings may be impressive, but this is not enough as the projections needed to retain their accuracy, while being able to keep it interesting.

The two photographers have been able to project upside-down color images of the landscapes and the project has become an instant success.

Visitors can experience the relation between the outside world and interiors

With the help of the Romain Alary and Antoine Levi’s camera obscuras, anybody can experience the outside world without leaving the room, proving once again that anything is possible.

Of course, it is not advisable to remain in a dark room for the rest of your life, as exploring the world is an important duty of a photographer. Nevertheless, sometimes it is great to back to the roots and see how our ancestors used to experiment with the first types of photography.