1843, British Algae by Anna Atkins
1843, British Algae by Anna Atkins
(Notice how images are cut circularly.)
"Falls Bridge, 1981."
"Leham Lane Picket Fence, 1981."
"Wyncote Avenue Cyclone Fence, 1981."
"Beach Debris, 2003."
"Untitled. (Guns N'Roses, Sonic Youth, and two mix tapes.), 2008."
"A-bomb canteen, 2008."
"Fragment of a steel beam from A-bomb dome, 2008."
"Bottle deformed by A-bomb, 2008."
Discovered in 1842, by Sir John Herschel, the Cyanotype process was one of the first archival, long-lasting, photographic processes. This process came long before the discoveries of roll film or point-and-shoot cameras. Acting like a xerox machine, the cyanotype becomes a "copy" of whatever is placed on top of it. The cyanotype chemical is sensitive to the UV-rays of the sun, all one would have to do is place the object or paper negative they wanted to print onto the sensitized paper and leave it in the sun to expose. Cyanotypes are developed simply using a cool water bath. Making an image by casting light through an object that is placed directly onto the sensitized paper is called a "Photogram".
Anna Atkins, coined "The 1st Woman Photographer", was the first to use the cyanotype process. In 1843 she created a volume of prints documenting British algae. The prints were then bound into a book called, "British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions", Edition of 13.
Cyanotype was popular for a bit in the 1880s and 1890s due to the low costs of the materials and simplicity of the process. The public could purchase pre-coated cyanotype papers, leading many to have early photo albums full of cyanotypes.
The process died out quickly with the advent of faster and more precise ways of creating photographic images. Re-vitalized in the 1960s, artists began using it, as Robin Hill explains, "to see the potential in an object. To explore not how we see an object, but how light sees an object." Today it is used as a conceptual tool by fine art photographers and artists.
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