MY RESEARCH

Literature

My first excursion to libraries and well-stocked photography book shops turned out to be a disappointment, since I was able to find only a few books on the subject. They either dealt with cyanotypes when they were invented or were mainly descriptions of the technical process. Neither dealt with the actual images and what they mean today or how they could be used. Through art indexes I also found some articles dealing with the subject. Again, they were either technical discussions or showed a certain photographer's portfolio. None discussed need or usability. I plugged through the technicalities, knowing they would become very useful when it came to making cyanotypes myself.

>> Exhibitions - A game of hide-and-seek

[14] Silver and Syrup exhibition, Canon photography exhibition room, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7
[15] Flower show, Zelda Cheatle gallery, 99 Mount Street, London, W1. Cyanotypes by Jill Staples and Joy Gregory, 30th August 1999

I wanted to find out how readily available alternative photography and cyanotypes are: How would graphic designers be able to source these type of images? I was ready to see some exhibitions. I decided to check out the 'Silver and syrup' at the V&A [14]. It promised a historical exhibition starting with the birth of photography until today. Not surprisingly, none of the modern photographs featured alternative photography. I began to doubt the existence of the real image. The only exhibitions that featured cyanotypes were the ones on the internet as digital reproductions. Although good for reference I had yet to see a 'live' one. This was turning into a game of hide-and-seek. But luck changed when I went to a photographic flower show at the Zelda Cheatle gallery [15], showing the work of Jill Staples and Joy Gregory. The prints were in the same style as Anna Atkins prints, and hadn't really moved on from the first cyanotypes in history.

I also went to the Royal College of Arts final year show and spoke to Wendy Wilson, a textile designer. Her project used cyanotypes and one other alternative photographic process to print wall hangings and soft furnishings. She made original use of cyanotypes, dressing a sofa in the material. Wilson found the cyanotypes a good medium for her project because of their simplicity. She also preferred their texture and feel to that of computer generated images. She told me that she liked the unpredictability of the process. I feel she utilised the process very well, since printing on textiles adds a certain quality with the image sitting inside the material.

The lack of information worried me at first. Is there really no interest in this, or is it something people do and do not write about? Once I found someone using cyanotypes, albeit to create furniture coverings, I knew the process wasn't completely disregarded for use in design projects, but what about as a graphic design tool? The enthusiastic response from the photographers convinced me that there is certainly interest in this, although quite specialised. The people involved with them were exceptionally enthusiastic.

>> Trying out the process

V) Outline of rope in cyanotype, photography by Malin Hylén ©

[16] Silverprint Ltd, 12 Valentine Place, London, SE1 8QH

I really wanted to test the cyanotype process to see what it had to offer. I got chemicals from Silverprint [16]. They were easy to use and the technicalities easy to comprehend. I spent a night coating watercolour paper and cotton cloth, slept while the material dried in my dark loft and printed the following day.

There are two ways of recreating an image using the cyanotype process. You can either use an enlarged negative that is placed on the material which will create a positive the same size as the negative. Or, you can place objects directly on top of the material and recreate their shadows and outlines. This is called a photogram.

[17] Michael Mauder, Mad dogs and Englishmen - Insight into sunlight, its content, its angle and its effect on photography, AG+ photographic, Timothy Benn publishing, volume 13

I mainly produced photograms, so I wouldn't have to worry about producing enlarged negatives on my first attempt. It took some time to get exposure times right. When the sun was in zenith half the exposure time was enough compared to later in the afternoon. The long exposure times of up to an hour also meant that in a whole day I only produced six prints. In the winter the exposure time can be up to three hours long, or it may not be possible to print at all [17] without an UV lamp. If you also take into consideration the time for coating the material and drying it, it turned out to be quite a time consuming process. You would also be restricted by rain washing away the chemicals.

I also found it hard to predict the final result, to visualise what a the flat shadow of an object will look like. What you see when looking at an object is its textures as well as its 3-dimensional shape. For example [Figure V] where you see the texture on a rope in real life, the photogram will show the outline of the rope, or the shadow of the rope. You will still see texture along the edges, but the opaque middle will be a flat white colour.

Cyanotypes have a short and steep tonal scale, creating a high contrast image of whites,with varying shades of blue. The longer the exposure time, the deeper the blue. If you prefer another colour to blue simply change the colour of the material you are printing on. For instance, printing on red material results in a red and purple image, but it will always be a duotone.

[18] When using the software Adobe Photoshop ou can go back 99 steps of the work you have done if you change your mind, giving you full control of the process.

One of the things I found most refreshing about the process is the unpredictability of the results. Because the exposure time can be so long and you can wait most of the day to find out you have forgotten to cover a bit of the material, and you end up with a white spot rather than your carefully composed design. Some of my best results were the product of careful planning and 'happy accidents'. The point is that in creating cyanotypes there is an element of chance, a far cry from your 99 layers of 'undo' in photoshop [18].

There are several other technical hurdles to overcome. For example: unless the object has very defined edges and is in immediate contact with the material, the print also comes out slightly blurry, or soft. This is due to exposure times of 40 minutes to an hour, during which time the sun has time to change position. When the sun moves the shadow it casts naturally moves with it, thus creating a blurry shadow on the print. Some light also gets scattered or reflected, exposing and softening the edges. This problem can be avoided with a UV lamp.

On a more positive point, you don't need a darkroom, enlargers or any other expensive equipment for this process, as long as you can darken a room to dry the coated material. The chemicals are also cheap, making the whole process inexpensive. I do not think the process is too complicated or different for graphic designers to use.

You have great flexibility with material, you can print on anything made of natural fibre. Cotton, linen, silk, handmade paper, watercolour paper and rags are just a few of the materials that can be used. An artist called Patrick Hilferty even prints on wood! [Figure VI]

VI) Vesselfire: Cyanotype on wood, photography by and with kind permission of Patrick Hilferty ©

[19] Tim Daly, A modern vintage, British Journal of Photography 27.01.99

Each cyanotype is also unique: the brush strokes when you coat the material is different each time. The image tone will be different as the light changes. Cyanotypes also have a handmade feel to them because of the hand coated material. You can certainly re-produce the cyanotype or any other process in the computer [19]. You can add scratches and textures. However, you lose the handmade element, and the element of chance.

[20] CMYK is a printing process where all the printing is done with only four colours; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K is for black, B was already taken for Blue) since not all printing inks are pure it is hard to reproduce the exact colour.

You can certainly reproduce something that would look similar on the computer. But if you were to print the result of your digital creation you would use a four colour process called CMYK [20]. This would print your image on top of a paper mixing the inks, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black together. When using the cyanotype process the image is actually retained inside the material rather than on top of it. You would not be able to reproduce this effect with the four colour process used to print computer generated images.

Cyanotypes have quite a dreamy, floating feel to them [Figure VII]. The varying shades of blue are like a sky on a clear sunny day. If you make photograms, rather than print from negatives, the objects also appear to be floating, since there is no horizon placing them in relative space.

VIII) Cyanotypes made as photograhs seem to float, photography by Malin Hylén ©

[21] Stefan Nilsson, Foto har inget med scanning att göra, Nerikes Allehanda, 7.11.98 (Swedish daily broadsheet newspaper)

A quarter of a billion pictures are taken every day[21], and with the amount of images our brains have to process daily on television, the internet, adverts and magazines I also feel a distinctive image would have a better chance of being remembered. Cyanotypes would stand out with their unique colour and textures. They have a different feel to that of silver based photography.

>> Photographers working with cyanotypes

Having seen how the process works I wanted to know how other people use it, and see if I could find anyone actually using the process in their designs.

I searched the internet for people working with cyanotypes. I contacted the photographers I found. I asked them what made them work with alternative processes such as cyanotypes, what the response to their work has been and how it has been used. Most of them replied within a few days, and with enthusiasm. Some also recommended other people, websites and exhibitions in Europe. I found a lot of information on the internet about the processes and a lot of technical data. Not much on the use or the aesthetic values was available, so the ability to discuss this with practitioners is invaluable. I also found a chat group that seemed happy to share their views on the alternative photographic processes and give me feedback and criticism.

One observation that struck me when talking to people about my project was that they either have no idea what a cyanotype is, or they know everything there is to know about the subject. It seemed to be very black and white - or blue and white!

[22] Barbara Hewitt (1995) Blueprints on fabric: innovative uses for cyanotypes, Interweave press.

Through these photographers' experience I was hoping to establish areas of graphic design that use these images. The problem was that not many of the photographers had had their images used in designs. Barbara Hewitt, author of 'Blueprints on fabric' [22], has a shop in America selling materials for printing cyanotypes. She told me that cyanotypes are a very popular method of making quilts in America. There is a group of people making quilts for their homes. Hewitt found that the cyanotypes were very popular with these people for their low toxicity and their ease to use. She also sells her cyanotype supplies and cyanotyped t-shirts at fairs. This application of cyanotypes is still art or decoration, rather than work in a design project. It is more of a hobby to these people than a professional application and use of cyanotypes. I was not able to find any actual design projects using cyanotypes.

VIII) Berlin blau, photography by and with kind permission of Robert A. Schaefer Jr. ©

>> How cyanotypes are used

The photographers I contacted were all very positive to cyanotypes. They also reported that they all have had a very positive response to their cyanotype work. With the response they have had you would think that they would sell like hot cakes, but to the question if they had, most gave a plain and simple 'no'. Some also hinted that it was hard to make a living out of this sort of photography.

[23] Personal conversation with John Benjafield, Historic Impressions, 176 Portobello Road, London, W1

Cyanotypes are used very successfully as an art form. Jean Eger, Jan van Leeuwen and Ann McDowell are amongst some of the photographers and artists that have had a very positive response to their cyanotypes and sold them as art. Robert Schaefer has used cyanotypes successfully in conjunction with architecture [Figure VIII]. An image of architectural buildings coupled with the blue (and perhaps the associations with the architectural blueprint) was a success. Jerry Orabona's cyanotypes illustrated a medical newsletter and Judy Seigel's work has been published in several photographic magazines. Apart from being used as art or to illustrate articles in photographic magazines (usually when the article is debating cyanotypes or alternative photography) they are not used at all. John Benjafield [23], who deals in historical prints on Portobello Road market also reports an increased interest in cyanotypes, or "those blue prints" as most of his customers refer to them. His prints are however sold as art.

[24] Francis Hodgson (Photography Manager), Photonica Europe Ltd

The constant need for new images, also commented on by Francis Hodgson [24], the manager of Photonica photographic library is a positive thing for this project Says Francis: "Commercial clients need above all to distinguish themselves from their competitors, what you call alternative processes can help to do that." As cyanotypes are quite distinctive and stark they stand out.

Creative awards tend to favour original approaches, and more often than not, reward different looking photographs. I think this supports the case for cyanotypes. With more people trying to create original looking images the market seems to be almost expecting something different every time. It seems open to change and new approaches.

>> Interview with a print expert

[25] Steve Macleod, Metro Art.

On recommendation from one of the photographers, I contacted Metro Art [25]. Metro is an imaging company, which prints photographers' work. I spoke to Steve Macleod who has worked for Metro for about a year, but started printing some nine years ago. I asked him if he knew of or had been working on any projects using cyanotypes or alternative photography commercially. He could think of two using alternative photography:

A photographer had taken marine photographs that had been used for a watch company's annual report. The design agency had seen the photographs at Hamilton gallery and commissioned the photographer to shoot pictures for the report. Although they fell into the category of alternative photography, they were not cyanotypes. They were silver prints. The other example he could think of were some cyanotypes that he had printed for Linda McCarthy as promotional material for her work.

Macleod felt that one of the problems with cyanotypes was that the quality of the prints did not translate properly into reproduction. The image of the photographic prints is held inside the material as well as on top of it, whereas with ink printing the print is on top of the surface of the material. The reproduced print loses the depth and the quality of the original print and flattens out. He thought that although these are concerns of photographers and artists, the general public would probably not notice the difference between the two.

Another drawback of the printing process is the time. Macleod would spend one day making up enlarged negatives, one day testing them and one day printing them, taking the minimum time the printing could be done to three days. However, considering other work loads the real lead-time is actually two weeks, which for many people is too long for their deadlines.

So, Macleod felt that the reason graphic designers don't use cyanotypes in their work is mainly the time, money and quality. The time it takes to produce would interfere with deadlines. Money spent on printing could be wasted since people do not notice the difference in quality lost in the flattened repro process and the printing process.

I asked him if he thought alternative photography has had enough exposure for graphic designers to know that the process exists. He thought it was seen more as a form of fine art than design. Metro's marketing department tends to target galleries and photographers rather than graphic designers, which supports the argument that graphic designers are not exposed to them.

So far I had established that the cyanotype process and technology is easy to use and that photographers and artists get a positive response from their work. I was left wondering why graphic designers had not picked up on this type of image. This called for further investigation.

>> Graphic designers sourcing images

I had to establish if cyanotypes were not used because of their unsuitability, or if it was because graphic designers were not aware of them. Perhaps they are too hard to find, since they are not readily available at exhibitions or in literature. I created a questionnaire targeting graphic designers. I asked them about their design experience, if in all those years of experience they ever came across cyanotypes, and also where they source their images. The result confirmed my suspicion that the main source of images is in fact photographic libraries.

19 of 32 designers use photographic libraries as one of their main sources of images. 14 commission illustrators and photographers with specific briefs, 9 use the internet as one of their sources and 17 also use other sources such as in-house libraries, video grabs, 3d models, books, magazines or make the images themselves.

The designers had an average of 8.4 years experience, that is 269 years of accumulated design experience! Only 5 had ever come across cyanotypes, and then only in photographic environments. One had heard of an instance where cyanotypes had been used in design, in a corporate brochure for the Natural History Museum four years ago. The point is that the designers exposure to cyanotypes is very limited.

My own experience also confirms that graphic designers tend to favour photographic libraries as their source. They use the stock photography as their base and improve the way it looks with effects. They manipulate it and retouch it to suit a certain style. Since photographic libraries do not stock cyanotypes they are not the sort of image that graphic designers would stumble over. Designers that actively seek new images by perhaps commissioning photographers, going to exhibitions and looking at new photographic trends might come across them. Perhaps if photographers working with cyanotypes had a more proactive approach, and if graphic designers in turn sought out alternative sources for their images cyanotypes would be used more. Photographers I speak to also say they wish they had more time working with their images and less time spent on marketing. Time is probably the biggest factor here, since sourcing new images is a time consuming task. The imbalance of the two seems to be down to time pressure. Photographic libraries do not stock cyanotypes. They tend to stock more generic looking images. Most of the photographers I have spoken to also consider their cyanotypes as art rather than commercial photography, which might mean they are reluctant to put them into photographic libraries.

The next logical step was to speak to the photographic libraries, to see why they do not stock cyanotypes.

>> Photographic libraries lack of cyanotypes

Maria Wood, the Picture editor at Time magazine constantly deals with photographic libraries. In 11 years of experience she has never heard of a photographic library that stocks any cyanotypes.

Wood recommended I contact Photonica photographic library. I asked Francis Hodgson, the manager, some questions. Photonica specialises in different looking images. If any photographic library stocks cyanotypes it would be this one. They work on the principle that "photographers have something to say, and express their opinion with their images, as opposed to the view that the object photographed carries an emotional or psychological message. Photonica assumes the opposite, that the object is unimportant, but what the photographer thinks about it is fundamental." Hodgson thinks that "alternative photography can add a lot, but it could also be a 'pretentious waste of time'. If it helps the photographer as a technique it makes all the difference, if it's an obsession with process it obstructs the viewers thoughts." Hodgson also thought that "alternative processes can aid commercial clients' needs to distinguish themselves from competitors. Photonica do not stock alternative photographic images for the sake of having alternative photography on their books, but if it is included in an image as a whole." Hodgson thinks that "process itself is of no interest to viewers, they want to know what the photographer meant by an image. We are supposed to respond to photographs at the level of their very intimate and yet wonderfully indirect relation to reality / fact. 'What a wonderful image' often means no more than 'What a wonderful thing is tape-recorded in it'. For a viewer, to acknowledge the importance of process would be to admit that what he was looking at was metaphorical, not factual: difficult or impossible. Photographers, quite uniquely in the communication media, think that those bones [referring to processes] are themselves of interest to their viewers."

Hodgson could not think of any examples of cyanotypes kept in their library. They seem to be a non-entity in the photographic libraries.