Alternate Photography Processes: Beautiful, Blue Cyanotypes
“Broken Fences” This small cyanotype contact print was exposed directly from a 2 1/4″ black and white film negative in mid-day sunlight
Just this past week, photography icon Kodak announced its bankruptcy. In spite of that dire news and the fact that the company failed largely due to its reluctance to embrace digital photography in a meaningful way, film photography is not a lost art. In fact, film photography is seeing a resurgence along with a host of other archaic photographic processes. Lately I’ve been shooting a little more film, and looking for ways to expand my horizons within the art of photography, including the beautiful, blue cyanotype print.
The cyanotype process was invented in 1842 by English scientist Sir John Herschel, who saw it as a way to reproduce diagrams and plans. Even today, most of us know cyanotypes for their more common use in making blueprints. It was pioneering British female photographer Anna Atkins who first saw potential in cyanotypes as an photographic medium. Wikipedia has an excellent article about cyanotypes here and about Anna Atkins here.
A photogram of Algae, made by Anna Atkins as part of her 1843 book, “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions,” the first book composed entirely of photographic images.Unlike the more common silver prints used in traditional black and white photography, blue cyanotypes use a combination of irons to chemically sensitize a surface (which could be paper, fabric, or other receptive surface). Cyanotypes are exposed by UV rays from the sun or a UV lamp, and rinsed in water to stop development. It’s a very simple process!
Cyanotypes are contact prints and can be printed from film negatives, from digital negatives made on an inkjet printer, or from objects such as flowers placed directly onto the paper.
See many more great cyanotypes on the Flickr cyanotype group page here.
Make your own cyanotypes
Want to mix the chemicals and coat your own cyanotype paper (or other surface) from scratch? This alternative photography page provides a recipe and explains the process. Be safe with the chemicals!
Or for the less ambitious, you can purchase very affordable cyanotype paper that’s sensitized and ready to use. Just place an object or negative on the paper, expose to sunlight for 10 – 15 minutes, and rinse.
See more of my own black and white photography
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Thanks for reading!
~Keith
