Portrait of a Photograph

Colin Westerbeck’s piece on a camera obscura photograph by Abelardo Morell brought back memories (“Camera Obscura Image of the Grand Tetons in Resort Room, Jackson Hole, Wyoming,” Photo Synthesis, April 29). In the late ‘60s, I built a darkroom in my garage, framing it with 2x4s and using cardboard for the walls because I was renting and didn’t want to waste money on something I would have to remove.

One day I went into the darkroom, leaving the garage door open, and noticed an upside image of my ’62 Chevy, which was parked in the driveway, on the wall. It was coming from a small hole in the cardboard. I taped over the hole and pinned an 8-by-10-inch sheet of photo paper on the wall where the image was. I removed the tape, guessing the exposure, and developed the paper. The result was a photo of my car taken with my camera obscura.

Carl Pytlinski

Altadena