The images in this blog post are some recent cyanotypes / solar prints using plants from my garden and images I've taken of local trees (which I've manipulated to work with the cyanotype process). Much as I love my digital SLR camera equipment, I really adore processes like this which are so experimental and connect with early photography. I also really love processes like this where you are working hand in hand with the elements and natural materials: you never quite know how things will turn out
I use both cyanotype chemicals and solar inks in this work - the process is the same, just with slightly different light-reactive liquids; they are both forms of alternative photography. You prepare a surface with the light-reactive liquid in a dark space, let the surface dry and then place items onto this surface. You then expose this to natural light so that the UV rays create an image as the light-sensitive surface you've created reacts to the sunlight and parts of the surface are blocked by the items you've placed onto it. Exposure times vary widely - it can take a three or four minutes in incredibly bright summer sun and 20 minutes or more on a cloudy day or low sun. It's a wonderfully unpredictable process - which I find delightful, though you have to be prepared for very many different results.
The images below were created at various times of the spring, summer and early autumn: the quality of light and amount of UV present changes, so your exposure times change and you have to adapt constantly. I love working so closely with the elements in processes like this, you never quite know how things will turn out because of the way light changes as the seasons and cloud cover changes. It's one of those processes where there's lots of preparation involved and lots of keeping a close eye on the weather...
This process is sometimes referred to as sun printing or solar printing and also as photograms - which is where objects are placed on light-reactive surfaces to leave behind an image once the surface is exposed to UV light. You can use many different things but it's plants that I'm most interested in and which I use in many different processes that I work with.
Once the images have dried I use them in different ways and I've been layering them with other prints, with text and with objects. Sometimes I frame them as they are and other times they invite exploration to turn into books or into layered collage and more.