The Obscura Photowall: Obscura Collective

A woman sits behind a purple umbrella, smiling, whilst a child beside her holds a colourful umbrella, both under studio lights with people visible in the foreground. The backdrop is a plain beige fabric.

A self-documented portrait gallery was created by festival visitors using an analogue plate camera.

Visitors to the 2025 festival were greeted by a victorian-esc camera setup operated by the Obscura team, who guided participants through the creation of their own “auto-portraits” using a simple shutter-release cable.

Before stepping in front of the camera, participants learnt about analogue image capturing and printing processes before becoming both the sitter and photographer of their own portrait, controlling the moment the shutter clicked. 

 

The light-sensitive paper used in the camera was then processed in a pop-up darkroom space next door, producing an ‘instant’ negative print which was hung on the growing gallery wall. Using their phones, visitors could quickly invert the negatives, unveiling their portraits and blurring the boundaries between old and new photographic methods.

Originally commissioned by Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, the Obscura Photowall flips traditional photography on its head. The auto-portrait process gave participants power over exactly how their portraits were created.

View the full collection below.

A wall covered in rows of black-and-white portrait photographs, each featuring a person, arranged in a grid pattern and viewed from an angle, creating a sense of depth and repetition.
A man adjusts a vintage large format camera on a tripod in a photography studio, with lighting equipment and black-and-white portraits visible in the background.

About Obscura Collective

Obscura Collective is an artist collective based in the North of England, aiming to keep film and analogue processes alive.

Established in 2015, Obscura Darkroom moved towards an artist collective in 2024 to focus more on project-based work. 

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