Workshop // Cyanotypes

Cyanotype is an old photographic technique invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, based on a photosensitive emulsion that reacts to ultraviolet light, for example sunlight. Within the first year of this discovery, Anna Atkins, believed to be the first woman to produce a photograph, applied the process to stock, ferns, seaweed and other plant life and published the first book ever illustrated entirely with photographs.

You place leaves, paper clips, negatives, etc. directly on paper which is coated with a light-sensitive emulsion and let the sunlight expose the paper, so that a silhouette effect is created. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and inexpensive process to produce copies of blueprints, called blueprints. The technique is used today primarily by artists.

The process is unique in that it is a form of photography that does not require a camera or an expensive darkroom. See and experience a photographic technique where UV light is your partner and where you expose pictures in the open with the help of the sun and develop them with water. The possibilities for the most beautiful blueprints are endless.

On this 3-hour course, you will be introduced to all stages of the technique and have the opportunity to try it out with simple tools. You are welcome to bring pressed flowers, negatives printed on transparencies, lace, etc., but there will be several different materials available on the day of the course.

Would you like to try your hand at this beautiful alternative photography technique? Then register for the course in cyanotopy by writing to photographyatgodsbanen@gmail.com

The workshop is taught by Barbara Katzin and Charlotte Siewartz