Project aims to build mobile photography prototype.

Local photographers Jenny Duffin and Pete Ashton want to bring the magic of the Camera Obscura, the precursor to the modern camera, to Birmingham. Using the crowdfunding website Kickstarter they have raised £1,500 from the public and are looking to increase this by the deadline of 14th December.

The new Camera Obscura will be a portable device, big enough for people to get inside and see the world projected right in front of them. Duffin and Ashton’s prototype camera toured the city this summer generating many smiles. Its successor will be a sturdy wooden camera that will last for years.

The camera will be the centrepiece of a program of events, and in five years they hope to have a permanent obscura building somewhere in the city, rivaling those in Bristol, Edinburgh, Aberystwyth and across the world.

By crowdfunding the costs of the camera from the public, Duffin and Ashton hope to ensure it belongs to Birmingham. The camera will be built at Birmingham Open Media (www.bom.org.uk), a new space for art and technology, where people will be able to visit and help out, and the entire process will be recorded at www.bhamobscura.com wheer details of how to contribute can also be found.