1. Create a giant camera like Abelardo Morell!
Turn your BEDROOM/BATHROOM into a CAMERA! What do you need: * Black board/black bin bags/card board * Black electrical tape * Biro to poke a hole with! Step 1: Find a room that is small and has a very few windows. Step 2: Cover all the windows and any light coming under the doors using black board/bin bags/cardboard and black electrical tape. You need the room to be pitch black! Step 3: Poke a hole with a pin and then a biro to allow a small amount of light to come through the hole BUT ONLY THE HOLE! VOILA! Your room is a camera! |
John Brewers instructions: The process starts out the same as normal cyanotype: coating the paper with cyanotype solution in a darkroom environment (or at least a room with heavy curtains/blinds pulled shut). After the cyanotype paper has dried, the fun begins. For this next step, you will need a a spray bottle filled with ordinary water and a range of kitchen chemicals and ingredients. You can use turmeric, chilli powder or other colourful spices, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, various cleaning sprays, citric acid crystals, dish soap bubbles or even a spray of home-made anthotype solution (we made various versions with dandelions, summer berries and leaves to produce yellow, red and green hues). Once you have decided on your composition of leaves/flowers/feathers etc., spray your cyanotype paper with water and add a shrinking of your chosen substance. We found that limiting oneself to one or two additives led to better results. After you have added your plant or chosen object, add another spritz or sprinkle of water and the chosen substance(s) on top of the object, before placing a layer of crumpled cellophane. Top with glass and clip in place, as you would with a normal cyanotype and leave in the sun for an hour or so, checking every so often for signs of development. When the visible paper is light brown and looks dry, you can wash the wet cyanotype, although some people leave their wet cyanos to develop for much longer than this (10 hours, or even overnight). 2. Read about: Shadow Catchers Exhibition, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2011 In 2011 the V&A presented the first UK museum exhibition of work by contemporary camera-less photographers. Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography displayed images by five leading artists who, for the past twenty years or more, have been creating exciting new photography without the use of a camera: Pierre Cordier (Belgium), Susan Derges (UK), Adam Fuss (UK/ USA), Garry Fabian Miller (UK) and Floris Neusüss (Germany). The exhibition will include around 75 photographs that explore the simple and powerful effects of light and science with results that often appear surreal, enigmatic or abstract. (read full press release about the exhibition above). You can also view videos about their work below. In addition, you can view a cyanotype music video made last year by Edd Carr, who has created what may be the first cyanotype video. He was commissioned by Globe town Records in London to make a music video for Tycho Jones, and did so making over 5000 frames in cyanotypes and animating them. The music is melodic and has a nice beat and the cyanotypes are stunning. The video also deals thematically with birds and their relationship to culture and the climate crisis. |
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