QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

>> Cyanotypes - a new look at an old technique

[1] Cyanotypes - sometimes referred to as iron printing and blue printing.

When we think of photographic printing techniques, and the potential to manipulate images that computers offer today's graphic designers, it is easy to forget that only 180 years ago photography as we know it was not even invented. In the struggle to capture the moment - to create the perfect image - many processes were experimented with and discarded. Some techniques too slow, others too expensive, and some involving hazardous chemicals were potentially life-threatening. But one technique, the cyanotype [1], was relatively quick, inexpensive and safe. It uses natural light to develop a print using treated cloth or paper, sitting the image inside the material rather than on top, as in conventional printing.

I) Cyanotype self portrait, photography by and with kind permission of Jan Van Leeuwen ©

The images are blue and white and have the feel of the sun creating patterns in a cumulus sky. When I ask myself what first caught my eye about these images, the answer is easy. They create shades of blue, my favourite colour. As I found out more about cyanotypes and entered into the rather close knit community of those still creating them I asked myself why more graphic designers weren't using this simple and effective technique as part of their creative arsenal.

These are the questions I set out to answer.

Are cyanotypes simply unknown?

Are designers aware of them and do they even know that cyanotypes exist? Have cyanotypes had enough exposure to be considered?

Can the technology be used?

Since it is an old process with different technology would today's graphic designers be able to come to terms with it? Is there a contemporary method or process that could produce the same results?

Are they usable in design?

Would they add anything to the design, or simply hinder the message? Can cyanotypes bring back some life in the images? Can they improve the way graphic design looks? How do people react to them?

These are the questions I set out to answer.

II) Lillies, cyanotype, photography by and with kind permission of Mark Sink ©

MY INTENTIONS

>> My motives

[2] Photoshop r Adobe Photoshop is a software programme used by designers for image manipulation.

In my previous work as a graphic designer for Time magazine I often commissioned photographic illustrations for articles. I once specified a modern and up-to-date look. What I received was an utterly boring photo collage, put together in Photoshop [2]. (This is not an attack on the illustrator or the tools used, just an example of what is perceived to be today's modern illustrations.) There was nothing very interesting about the illustration. It lacked concept and personality and looked similar to what I have seen many times before. It had that computerised feel to it. It lacked texture and interest. As Robert A. Schaefer, photographer, said in an interview with World Arts Association: "...one big problem with working with photography in Photoshop is the ability to distort images by simply pressing one of the filter selections. This does not require much thought and not a whole lot of imagination. These images are usually so obvious and boring".

A few weeks later I went to a show organised by Creative Review called 'Creative futures'. It was a small selection of the "bright-young-talents" of today. One piece of work that stuck in my mind after the show was a TV commercial made with scratches, similar to what you used to get on the 8 mm film when worn out. It had some typography and a bug running across the screen. The content was irrelevant. The quality and the feel of that film were what stood out in my mind.

[3] Alternative photography is photography not using conventional silver based chemicals.

These two events lead me to believe that there is a lot more scope for the old style processes, or alternative photography, as they are also known, to be used and perhaps bring back some of the textures and feel lost in today's design. What is lacking in a lot of computerised images is the 'feel' and the textures you often get naturally with photography. (These textures can indeed also be created in the computer). In any case: I decided to examine and experiment with alternative photographic techniques [3] to see how they can be applied to graphic design today

GENERAL BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

>> What is alternative photography?

There are several alternative photographic processes available; Kallitypes, Gum Bicromate and Vandyke prints to name a few, all of which have been around since the invention of photography in 1827. To be able to go into depth on the subject I decided to concentrate on one of these processes. I chose one called cyanotypes. This process is easy to experiment with and has low toxicity. Another aspect that influenced my choice is that it is blue, and I love blue.

III) Lady with harp, photograhy by John Herschel

[4] Mike Ware, A new blueprint for cyanotypes, AG+ phtographic, Timothy Benn publishing, volume7
[5] (K3Fe(CN)6) also known as red prusiate of potash, generally low toxicity, but can release hydrocyanic acid (cyanide gas) when exposed to strong acids (e.g. glacial acetic) or ultraviolet light.

The cyanotype process has remained virtually unchanged since its invention. Although some recent updates have been made by Mike Ware [4]. Ware's cyanotypes have less bleed, shorter exposures and higher density but use more toxic chemicals. It is quite an easy process: Potassium ferricyanide [5] and Ferric ammonium citrate (green) [6] are mixed with water separately. The two solutions are then mixed together. Paper, card, textiles or any other naturally absorbent material is coated and dried in the dark overnight. Objects and negatives [7] can be contact printed [8] on the material to create photograms[9] or prints. Cyanotypes are usually printed in the sun, but UV lamps can also be used. After exposure the material is rinsed in water, and a white print emerges on a blue background (assuming you used white material to start with). The final print can then be dried.

[6]Ferric ammonium citrate, also known as iron ammonium citrate, ammonium iron (III) citrate and ammonium ferric citrate. Slightly toxic. Prolonged contact can cause skin irritation, or irritation to eyes and respiratory system. Store sealed in a dark and dry area. It is also used as an iro and vitamin supplement.

For more colour variation cyanotypes can also be printed on coloured material. Red material will give you purple and red print instead of blue and white. The blue colour can also be removed by washing in certain detergents [10]. The print then fades and takes on a yellow and white image (assuming that you used white material). This print can then be toned, using professional toners, or simpler 'kitchen chemistry' such as ordinary tea. The image then takes on a sepia toned, brownish look. A light blue on dark blue print can also be achieved by not using the coated material within a day, but letting it lie for longer.

[7] Negative: The two main ingredients of photographic emulsion are gelatin and silver halides. These are coated onto glass, polyacetate or paper to make negatives, transparencies and photographic paper.
[8] Contact prints are make by placing negatives directly oto the photographic paper. They are then exposed in the same way as when pronts are made, creating photographic positive prints of the same size as the negative.
[9] Photograms were made famous by Man Ray (as Rayograms) in the 1930's. The technique is as old as photography. An image is conceived by placing an object directly onto the surfaceof a photographic paper and exposing it to light, printing the object rather than a negative.
IV) Lee Miller photographs © Lee Miller Archives, used by kind permission of the Lee Miller Archives, England, photography by Lee Miller [10] Barbara Hewitt (1995) Blueprints on Fabric: innovative uses for cyanotype, Interweave press.
[11] Anna Atkins (1985) Sun Gardens - Victorian Photograms, Phaidon Press Ltd
[12] Helmut Gernsheim (1961) Creative photography - Aesthetic trends 1839 - 1960, Dover publications.

The cyanotype process was invented in 1842 by astronomer John Herschel trying to find a way of copying his notes. The process got a kick-start with Anna Atkins [11] who produced and photographically illustrated a book of plants using the cyanotype process, or "shadowgraphs". Pictorialists latched on to the idea and a special paper was even marketed for them. The process had limited use, probably because of its limited colour range, but was used extensively for copying architectural plans, also known as blueprints, until recently. It is becoming obsolete due to photocopying and printers. As a photographic medium cyanotypes were made redundant by the invention of black and white photography.

>> What do we mean by photography?

By photography we generally mean silver based journalistic photography - including documentary photography, fashion photography, portrait & wedding photography and landscape photography. But also photography as art. Of these forms of photography, art is where the cyanotypes fit in most easily.
Until the 1960's [12] most photography was used as a portrayal of reality - a reflection of facts and situations. The other category of photography was still life art, where photography was used in the same way as painting. Daguerre's earliest surviving daguerrotype from 1837 illustrates this, as well as Rejlander's portrait from 1856 of two girls in a composition copying a detail in Raphael's sistine Madonna. It took a long time for photography to find its own voice. In 1954 the director of the V&A said that photography is 'a purely mechanical process into which the artist does not enter'. Photography as art existed on a small scale, but it was not until schools started encouraging creativity as well as technical competence that the field exploded.

[13] From Anthony Penrose, Lee Miller Archives, Farley Farmhouse, Muddles Green, Chiddingly, East Sussex, BN8 6HW by e-mail: "Lee Miller claimed she invented solarisation when she was a student with Man Ray in Paris between 1929 and 1932. It is sometimes claimed that the effect was already known and was called The Sabatier Effect. Suffice it to say that Lee discovered it for herself, and she and Man Ray were the first people to make good use of the technique."

The common use of photography as art in its own shape and form is a recent occurrence. Previously photography copied art in poses and style as much as possible. In my opinion, Paul Strand's photographs, such as 'The white fence' in 1916, as well as his abstract patterns and staircases in 1915, were amongst the first to have an individual artistic feel. Alvin Langdon Coburn claims to have produced the first abstract photograph in 1917. Whichever came first is irrelevant. What is more important is that photography started to have its own voice at this time. Man Ray followed suit in the 20's and 30's as one of the better known abstract photographers. Other photographers like Andrè Kertèsz, Helmut Gernsheim, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Tina Modotti and L. Moholy-Nagy were also amongst those who demonstrated an individual vision. Darkroom techniques such as double exposures developed with surrealists such as Casson in 1935. Lee Miller's [Figure IV] and Man Ray's solarisation [13] that changed the look of photographs radically was also used by Edminston in 1934 and photomontage was popular with Angus McBean in 1938 (although it was used as early as 1868). Some of the processes these photographers used would be classified as alternative photographic processes.