I plan to be ill for some time

Holding his eye to the hole in the curtain, he looked out at the late afternoon. The sun was going down behind the grain fields, and as it descended, it shot an orange glow from behind the hedgerows and poplars. Louis held the piece of white linen in front of the small curtain hole and saw, projected on it, the shimmering image of the lone walnut tree that stood by the stone fence. At the time he thought it merely a trick of nature or the convalescing mind, but years later, he would realize the importance of this discovery. The compression of light through the small hole had borne along the image of the walnut tree, projecting it onto the ceiling. Nature could sketch herself. He was growing into a man inside a dark chamber, a camera obscura fashioned by worn curtain fabric and August light. He went back to his bed and wrote in his journal: I plan to be ill for some time. [21]

Smith, Dominic. The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre. Atria Books. ISBN: 0743271149.

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