Back in 1996, photographer and artist Marja Pirila was making a lot of environmental portraits. “Environmental” is photography-speak for images of people where the space around them provides context to who they are. But something was about to revolutionize the way Pirila made her portraits.

She encountered the work of Abelardo Morell in Aperture magazineAperture magazine. Morell is a large format film photographer who is known for his camera obscura photographs. But Pirila also saw new opportunities for working with the camera obscura process—which traditionally involves using black curtains over windows, and using a small hole to let light, and a upside-down projection of the outside world, shine in.

After much fidgeting and testing, Pirila discovered