Prototype Interior

These shots give a basic impression of the Aurora Australis effect inside our prototype Camera Obscura...

Antarctic Images by Anthony Powell

Anthony Powell has kindly given us permission to use some of his excellent footage as part of the Lightbox project.

Whilst working as Satellite Communications Tech at Scott Base, he is also a photographer who documents Antarctic landscapes, wildlife, aurora and bases. Anthony is a recipient of NSF Artists & Writers Grant and is currently working on a feature length time-lapse film.

Antarctica Condition 1 Weather

Filmed at McMurdo Station where it is relatively sheltered by the surrounding hills. The weather down here is classified as being Condition 3 (nice weather), Condition 2 (not so nice), or Condition 1...

Scott Base Webcams

Video camera at Scott Base located in Hillary Field Centre briefing room, looking towards Pressure Ridges on the Ross Ice Shelf.

Scott Base - Ross Island

Live weather data from NZ base in Antarctica.

NIWA Antarctica

NIWA scientists have worked for many years on Antarctic atmospheric processes and aquatic ecosystems. Research vessel RV Tangaroa also supplies logistical support for scientific studies and hydrographic surveys in the Southern Ocean.

Interior Screens

Interior views, with external test objects being transformed when viewed from within.

Lens/Aperture Testing

Variable settings for different Lens/Apertures.

Covered Construction

Covered box construction with full stage lighting rig.

Light-proofing

Lightproof 'wrapping' of the overall frame.

Prototype Build

Some initial shots of prototype frame construction.

The Birkeland Terrella

Norwegian physicist Kristian Birkeland (1867-1917) began his own study based in the long tradition of work with electromagnetic terrellas. Between 1896 and 1913 he pursued a series of gas-discharge experiments in his laboratory at the University of Christiania (modern Oslo), directed primarily at reproducing in the laboratory the effects of the Aurora Borealis.

Article on Sphæra: the Newsletter of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

PALAOA

Providing an acoustic live stream of the Antarctic underwater soundscape...more than 15000 km lie between Antarctica and AWI. Underwater sound is recorded by two hydrophones at PALAOA, an autonomous, wind and solar powered observatory located on the Ekström ice shelf. The data stream is transmitted via wireless LAN to the German Neumayer Base and then by satellite link to AWI in Germany.

PALAOA - Transmitting live from the Ocean below the Antarctic Ice

Scenes from Antarctica

Down in Antarctica, November marks the end of spring, the beginning of austral summer, and the beginning of Antarctica's cruise season. The Sun just rose for the first time in 6 months on September 22nd, and is now visible in the sky all the time.

Collected here are 32 photographs of Antarctica from the past several years

Earthstar

Earthstar comprises three elements: customised antennae tuned to radio bursts emitted by the sun, footage of the solar chromosphere captured using a Hydrogen-Alpha telescope, refrigerators containing specially developed aroma molecules that hypothesise what the sun might smell like.

Earthstar by David Haines and Joyce Hinterding

Encounters At the End of the World

There is a hidden society at the end of the world. One thousand men and women live together under unbelievably close quarters in Antarctica, risking their lives and sanity in search of cutting-edge science.

Encounters At the End of the World by Werner Herzog

Initial Design Sketches

Some early thoughts on possible Lightbox construction techniques (less a box and more a yurt)...

Interview with Paul D. Miller on 'Terra Nova'

An Interview with Paul D. Miller on his Antarctica film Terra Nova, collaboration with DJ Spooky, large scale multimedia performance 'Sinfonia Antarctica'.

Interview with Paul D. Miller on Networked_Performance

Igloo Satellite Cabin

Designed to provide safe, reliable accommodation in remote areas, the Igloo Satellite Cabin has been used for over 25 years in conditions ranging from the tropics to polar icecaps. Units can be flown by helicopter fully assembled, and often fully equipped, to locations inaccessible by road transport.

Igloo Satellite Cabin article on Materialicious

Lightwave Proposal

Some initial treatments for the Lightwave 09 proposal, also more details on Antony's blog .

Outside-in, upside-down

Abelardo Morell travels the world and converts full-size rooms (some spare, some ornately rococo) into immense camera obscura devices. He brings the outside in through a tiny pin-hole, and by the alchemy of optics, the outside is projected quite naturally upside down superimposing and hugging the surfaces of everything in the room. Then, he photographs the resulting “installation” with his 8 x 10 view camera and enlarges the prints to mural size.

Lens Culture photographer interview: Abelardo Morell

Rakiura

The Māori name for Stewart Island, at the south of the South Island, is Rakiura, which means ‘glowing skies’. This may allude to the aurora australis, or simply to the dramatic southern sunsets.

Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Weather in Antarctica

One can only observe auroral displays at the South Pole during the six months from March to September, the rest of year the Pole experiences 24 hours of sunlight.

Antarctic Connection

Deep South Astrophotography

Beautiful Photography of the Southern Lights across the South Island of New Zealand.

Night Sky images by Stephen Voss

Wellington Astronomical Society

The auroral displays created by the sun's energy entering our atmosphere at high speed can sometimes be seen at latitude 41 degrees south. The Australasian Telephone Aurora Alert network is triggered at such times, to enable as many people as possible to see and image the display from their location.

http://www.was.org.nz/01aa.html

Paleo-camera Theory

Harsh climates in the Paleolithic era forced humans and their predecessors to adopt heat-retaining dwelling strategies, including the use of hide tents in cave mouths, under rock overhangs, and in the open. Small random holes in these hide tents would have coincidentally and occasionally formed camera obscuras, projecting moving images inside the dwelling spaces. These ghostly images carried with them spiritual, philosophical, and aesthetic implications.

Field reconstructions to test Paleo-camera Theory

Aurora Australis time-lapse footage

Filmed during the Antarctic winter in the general vicinity of McMurdo Station and Scott Base, where the sun is below the horizon for 4 months of the year.
Most of the individual clips here were each taken over about a 10 minute period to give you an idea of how much they were moving in real time.

Time-lapse footage of the Aurora Australis, by Anthony Powell