Mark W. Decker enjoys learning about the history of photography and has become familiar with the camera obscura, one of the earliest image capture tools. The camera obscura has its origins in ancient times when Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti described the formation of an inverted image via light passing through a pinhole opening in a darkened room. Later, Aristotle and Islamic scholar Alhazen experimented with the same concept using light from lanterns. The inverted image forms because light rays cross when passing through a small opening, causing an upside-down version of the scene to appear on the opposite wall.