Sunography and Solarcan results

Sunlight Sensitive material was a forerunner of modern photographic processes. this type of print which is also called cyanotype, dates back to 1842. it was popularized bu Anna Atkins, one of the first female photographers.

Recently I had the chance to try out some light sensitive paper, which I bought a while ago. The process interests me, its almost like a science experiment and its so easy to do. All I have to do is place an object onto the paper while its in direct bright sunlight, then rinse it with cold water to reveal a rich blue print. The tricky part is keeping the paper out of the light while I'm working.

 This first one
was done by hold a feather against the paper while standing in view of the sun. This was my first attempt, which turned out okay but could've done with leaving it for longer. it was interesting to see the paper change so quickly, it only took about 3 minutes to achieve this images

 This next one went okay but again some of it isn't as clear as it could've been. I still like it though. I used a pen and an acorn to achieve this image.

 This one didn't work out too well. at first it looked great but I didn't realise the pool of water that form while I left it to dry. I didnt let it drip enough when i took it out of the water.

This is the best one of the bunch, I left the ornament in front of the paper for a good 10 minutes which gave it a good sharp image. I wish I had more paper to experiment with but its quite expensive. I might get some more another time but right now I feel like I got a feel for this technique.

Overall I really enjoyed using this technique and I could imagine what I could do with a much larger piece of paper. I have looked at the work of Robert Rauschenberg in another report which lead me down the route and im glad it did. Its added to my overall knowledge of making and image. 

This is the result of my first solarcan attempt. Im very happy with how it turned out. I didn't expect too much from it given that the weather has been poorly for a while. But I was very surprised with how it turned out. I tweak the settings to enhance the image and make it more interesting, it took a few attempts to get the right look. It was very blue to begin with when I inverted the original image, which is the first image above, and didn't do the image justice. Its still quiet blue but its much more pleasing to the eye. I have another Solarcan to set up, I'm just going to have a good think about where I want to put it, which is exciting!