SOLAR Cinema, the photographic project of artist Martin Newth (above right), returned camera obscura to Cannizaro Park for the second of several weekend sessions on 17-18 February. Once again it threw a whole new light on the gardens. The image above left with silhouette shows the effect from within the darkened marquee.

This time it was set up in two contrasting positions, first in the Maple Tree avenue and later beside the Aviary. The effects, particularly by the maple trees were extraordinary, benefiting from a splendid sunset on the first day.

More sessions are planned on 7-8 April, 28 May Bank Holiday, and 28-29 July. Solar Cinema is the latest in the series of art-in-the-park installations organised by Friends supporter Martin Holman and his Art Works in Wimbledon organisation. Among earlier works were those of artist Keith Wilson who created structures to remind visitors of Cannizaro's agricultural past.

Martin Newth's project involves siting the marquee containing the camera obscura at different points in the park each season. It shows live action, moving projection on to one end of the tent, viewed from the front or rear. Instead of "freezing" the image like a conventional camera, the projection frames a section of the park within the screen. It becomes both an experience of the moment and an experience captured.

Camera obscura pre-dates the earliest days of photography. Once a common attraction at fairgrounds and seaside resorts, it had largely disappeared by the 1920s when the Wilsons, Cannizaro's last private owners, began to create the park we know today. The development of cinema at that time - particularly the advent of talkies after 1927 - supplanted the appeal of the simple but magical camera obscura.

Yet it had been used by artists such as Vermeer and Canaletto as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries to depict the world with a reality never previously seen. Camera obscura demonstrates how a camera works - light passing through a lens on to photographic film. It also illustrates how we use our own eyes, projecting light particles through the pupil on to the retina.

Through talks and a seminar, Solar Cinema will also examine ideas about the way forward for photography in an era of easily printed imagery by rolling the film back to the start of the photographic process.

The Friends of Cannizaro Park is part-funding the project to the of £800. Remaining costs are being met by Arts Council England, London; Camberwell College of Arts; University of the Arts, London; and Merton Council.