Cyanotype Impressions are a from of cameraless photography in which an object is placed on light sensitive paper, the area blocked out doesn't respond to the light while the area exposed becomes darker depending on the duration, from this an impression of the object(s) is left. This creates an image with a negative/inverted effect often available on camera phones. The image can be soaked in a solution to speed up the reaction and it must also be washed off to naturalise it and prevent any further chemical reactions.
Anna Atkins (1799 - 1871) is considered by some the first woman photographer as well as the first to publish a book with photographic images (Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions) , she's famously known for her cyanotype albums, the majority of which documented algae found within Britain. From this work she was able to contribute to the recognition of photography as a form of presenting scientific evidence.
Three examples of her work are displayed below.
Anna Atkins (1799 - 1871) is considered by some the first woman photographer as well as the first to publish a book with photographic images (Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions) , she's famously known for her cyanotype albums, the majority of which documented algae found within Britain. From this work she was able to contribute to the recognition of photography as a form of presenting scientific evidence.
Three examples of her work are displayed below.
Photograms
László Moholy-Nagy (1895 - 1946) was a Hungarian artist and photographer widely known for his photograms which he continuously produced from 1922 to 1946, he varied in methods of producing his photograms. One method was to create them in natural light and using the natural shadows produced while the other was to produce them in a dark room. He experimented with opaque and transparent objects so to achieve different effects, his work can be considered abstract as his play on forms and shadows made it so that it was difficult to guess the actual object used to create a photogram. |
"The photogram can be called the key to photography because every good photograph must possess the same fine gradation between the white and black extremes as the photogram. " |
Chemigrams were invented by Belgian artist Pierre Cordier in 1956 after being encouraged to to try something different by a French poet. Chemigrams successfully combine science and art by painting on light sensitive paper with a developer then using a fixer to stop the reaction, this creates an abstract or controlled image somewhat appearing as if it was painted with watercolours. They differ from photograms by not being created in dark rooms but out in light. Different colours (shown in his work pictured below) were created by leaving the developer on for varied periods of time and experimenting with different materials such as wax, oil and varnish. |
"fOLLOW A ROAD NOT YET TRAVELLED AND FULL OF OBSTACLES" |
cYANOTYPES
In these two photos I laid jewellery and a comb on the light sensitive paper before exposing it to light for a few minutes. Due to being outside I had to use blocks of wood to hold the paper down, consequently there are unexposed areas in the corners of my cyanotypes. I believe the wind may also be the reason for the necklace and bracelet not being as detailed as they could have been although I am still pleased with the outcome.
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cHEMIGRAMS
These are two of my chemigrams that I felt came out decently, In the first image I laid a chain of rings on the paper before pouring some of the chemicals on the paper, I initially thought the final image would clearly show where the rings were, though this failed to happen as the chemicals seeped under the crevices. In the second image I painted and splattered on the chemicals with a paint brush to produce what could be considered a 'hectic' image. These images were taken a few days after I actually carried out this process, from then the colours in the photos have significantly changed.
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Edited
Using an iPad app called Blendr I took photos of my chemigrams and cyanotypes then overlaid them. Messing around with the filters and opacity I was able to create some relatively interesting images.
pHOTOGRAMS
I most enjoyed creating photograms in the dark room, so that's what I decided to create the most of, it is evident how strong the light was and how long I left the images exposed by the shade of grey which became darker the longer the duration it was left. I used a range of objects to produce my images, I even brought grass and plants from outside to see how they would turn out. I also inverted a few of my images by placing my completed photogram over an unexposed piece of paper front down and exposing it again, this allowed me to see some detail which I couldn't see before and especialy helped me when I couldn't make out the results of my pinhole images