Work from students taking Nancy Breslin’s course in alternative photographic processes at the University of Delaware in 2012.

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North American photographers – East & East Coast
From: Delaware, USA.
Shows: Cyanotypes, Gum over cyanotype and Vandyke browns.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin is teaching alternative photographic processes at the Uni. Here we can follow her five week course. Week five and the course is finished.

We’re done! Teaching a class over winter session isn’t as hectic as teaching two classes over winter session (which I have done), but it still goes by in a blur.

There were two assignments due this week: paper presentations on Tuesday and final projects on Thursday. For the former, the students could choose any alternative photo process that we weren’t doing in class and report on how it is done, including any safety concerns, and talk about a photographer who has used that process, while showing a sample of that person’s work. I’m always glad to be introduced to the work of new artists, and the students all learn from one another about some of the rich options beyond what they’ve already tried. I also hoped they would see how easy it is to find instructions online, so they’ll feel comfortable trying new techniques on their own in the future. We heard about bromoil, anthotypes and tintypes, among others.

Nancy Breslin's students look at final projects on the last day of the course.

But the highlight of the week was the final critique. The challenge was to create a set of prints, using any one or more processes from the semester, for which the subject matter was enhanced by an alternative approach. The original images came from digital, lensed and pinhole cameras, and the prints represented most of the techniques learned in the last month. Some of the students could have used more time, to maximize print quality or to expand a series, but everyone had engaging ideas and ended up with some novel work to add to a portfolio. Artist’s statements (a necessary evil for working artists) accompanied each project, and there were comments that some of these did genuinely enhance the appreciation of the work, which was after all the goal.

You can see a sample piece by each student at a group gallery on this website. Several of the class members plan to continue working with alternative processes, so hopefully we’ll be seeing more from them here or at other sites in the future. It has been a pleasure introducing these hand-made techniques to new artists, and I found myself getting a creative burst during the class as well.

If you’ve been reading along, thanks for joining us on our quick but fruitful journey.

Some prints from the students on the course can be found in the galleries.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin is teaching alternative photographic processes at the Uni. Here we can follow her five week course. Week four and the finishing line is approaching.

Gum bichromate over cyanotype, by UD student Brandan Henry.

Gum printing had been a struggle for much of the class, even though I use a streamlined method (we use Fabriano Artistico 300 lb paper and do not size with gelatin/formaldehyde, which saves on time and toxicity), but most students got good results for a first attempt.

One source of frustration this week (with gum printing as well as the other processes that need large negatives) was that some of the transparencies were getting stuck in the Epson 4900 printer. We’ve been using Arista brand, and I couldn’t find a solution to this online. I tried several things, such as a custom profile for thinner “paper” and longer drying time, yet each day one or two would catch in the lower corner and crinkle up. Nathan Sherman, who handles equipment and technical issues for our department, suggested cutting the leading edge into a gentle curve (similar to the top notch the manufacturer uses to indicate the printable surface), and since then we haven’t had problems.

Thursday meant another critique, this time of silver gelatin prints. The students were asked to use regular black and white photo paper to create either lumen prints, or solarized photographs in a “surrealist” vein (I had given a short presentation on the work of the Surrealists last week). Subject matter was again pleasantly varied: clocks, hands, and grimacing faces among the solarizations, and feathers, plants, and lace among the lumen prints. The other thing due was a draft of an artist’s statement for the final project. I know that many insist that the work should “speak for itself,” but as an artist I regularly have to submit statements, so students should learn how to write them. I’ve also found that, at times, writing about my work helps to shape what I am doing. And maybe it’s my background as a psychiatrist that convinces me that bringing unconscious motivation to light is usually a good thing.

January is almost over, and this class will soon end. But the best (the final project critique) is yet to come.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin is teaching alternative photographic processes at the Uni. Here we can follow her five week course. Week three had students working with Holgas, cyanotypes and vandyke browns.

Cyanotype prints done by my students this week.

We began the week with our first formal critique, looking at cyanotoypes and Holga contact sheets. Everyone had some success with the former. In view of the weather and the short time frame, the students were welcome to use photographs they had taken for previous classes, and the imagery was quite varied, from wild animals to flowers to portraits to landscapes to cupcakes. A bad image printed using a cool process is still a bad image, and I think they made good decisions regarding what would translate well into a hand-made blue print.

The Holga work was a challenge at this time of year, with little color and lots of gloom. Yet it was a first opportunity for most of the class to work with medium format film, and two students mentioned the advantages of needing to think carefully about each shot, since you only get twelve, which is so unlike the free endless shooting that one can do with a digital camera. Some students really took advantage of the playful nature of these cameras, using double exposures and blended images to good effect.

Holiday lights make paper coating easier and this way the darkroom feels magical to me.

After week one I mentioned the visit to class by a reporter and photographer from our local paper, doing a story about winter session at my university. The article was published on Sunday at http://delonline.us/ADdqf9, and features several pictures of my class.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin is teaching alternative photographic processes at the Uni. Here we can follow her five week course. Week two is a bit smoother than week one.

My demo gum-over-cyanotype print was successful (whew!); a student's VDB print is washing behind it.

Because of the compacted nature of the class, some projects are mandatory, and others are optional. For instance, the students have a choice between creating a three color gum print or building and working with a pinhole camera (since both take time over multiple class periods). I needed to know where to allocate class time but the students kept dithering on which of these to do. Finally I asked the gum people to stand over HERE and the pinhole people to stand over THERE. It surprised me that only one student is opting for pinhole, but the open final project will give everyone a chance to try it if they like, and I hope some will.

This is the first time I’ve introduced lumen printing into this class. One of the student choices is between creating a diptych of lumen prints or one (in a surrealist vein) using solarization. Incorporating silver gelatin processes at all into an alternative class might have struck me as odd a few years ago, but for some of my students this will be their only darkroom experience (although I hope to tempt them all back for more).  I figure that their time in the darkroom – working under safe lights, learning a bit about enlargers and paper chemistry – may at least give them all tales to tell their grandchildren (as I’ll be able to tell mine about using punch cards in my intro to computing class at Rutgers in the late 1970’s).

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin is teaching alternative photographic processes at the Uni. Here we can follow her five week course.

Nikon vs. Cat Camera: no contest!

Fortunately (for me and the students) I have a small class of eight. Fewer students mean more time with each, but I suppose that this week most didn’t feel they had enough of my attention, since we had so much to do. I started the first day with the history of photography, with both slides and a show-and-tell from my collection of historic prints such as stereocards, tintypes and a daguerreotype. I then introduced them to the processes they’ll be learning: cyanotype, VDB, and gum printing, working with pinhole and toy cameras, and some alternative silver gelatin approaches (solarization and lumen printing). The next day focused on the digital negatives they will need for some of these processes, as well as how to coat paper and load 120 film. Today everyone made an initial cyanotype, which we did outdoors despite the cold weather and the access to UV units (I want everyone to feel empowered to continue some these processes in the future without having to invest in pricey equipment). I demonstrated how to mix gum chemistry, and wrapped up with a visit to the camera obscura. After 10 minutes in the dark they came out smiling. Today had an added complication, as a local paper is doing a story about winter session classes, so we were joined for part of the class by a journalist and a photographer. My head was spinning, and the last student and I finally left over an hour after the end of class time.

I love all sorts of alternative approaches, so can’t help showing the students some things that aren’t formally part of the class. Yesterday I showed some anthotypes I had done (along with Malin’s great new book), and today I brought in two fun cameras – my Blackbird Fly (most of them had never handled a twin lens camera) and my Necono Cat Camera. The newspaper photographer was taken with the latter, and wanted a good shot of it. I used the cat camera to shoot him while he shot me.

Anthotypes – Explore the darkroom in your garden and make photographs using plants

by Malin Fabbri

Make prints using plants – an environmentally safe process!

Customer rating:

Rated 10.0 based on 4 votes.

• Format: Paperback, 100 pages, full color
• Printed by: CreateSpace.com (and Lulu)
• Size on Createspace: 20.3×25.4 cm or 8×10 inches
• ISBN on Createspace: 978-1466261006
• Publisher: AlternativePhotography.com (January 2012)
• View table of content
• Press release

About the book

It is possible to print photographs using nothing but juice extracted from the petals of flowers, the peel from fruits and pigments from plants. This book will show you how it is done, and expand your creative horizons with plenty of examples from artists working with anthotypes today. Anthotypes will simply make you look at plants in a whole new light. And, if that is not enough, anthotype is a totally environmentally friendly photographic process.

From Malin Fabbri

Anthotypes will make you look at plants in a whole new light. It will show you how to make photographs from the juice of flowers, fruits and plants, using a totally environmentally friendly photographic process.

Anthotype is a very delicate photographic process and an environmentally friendly way of making prints using nothing other than the photosensitive material of plants found in the garden, the flower market or in the wild. All you need to add is water, sunshine, inspiration and patience – a lot of patience!

The process is very basic and simple. Utilizing nature’s own coloring pigments from flower petals, berries, plants, vegetables or even spices, images are produced using the action of light. The natural pigment is used to create a photographic image.

What could be better? Your impact on the natural environment is virtually non-existent, and you can carry out your art with a clear conscience. Anthotyping is the ultimate environmentally friendly photo process.

About the author

Malin Fabbri moved from Sweden to London to study. She earned an MA in Design at Central St. Martin’s, but publishing her thesis felt more like a beginning than an end. Malin decided to combine her academic and practical experience and started AlternativePhotography.com in 1999. The website still maintains its origins as a source of information and research for alternative photographic processes and represents almost 400 artists. Malin actively manages the expansion of the site as editor. She researches alternative photographic processes, makes her own prints and runs workshops. Malin has also worked professionally with big media names like Time magazine and CNBC Europe. Malin is the co-author of Blueprint to cyanotypes and From pinhole to print, the editor of the alternative photography art book Alternative Photography: Art and Artists, Edition I representing 115 artists working in alternative photographic processes, and the author of this book, Anthotypes – Explore the darkroom in your garden and make photographs using plants.

Said about the book

“Anthotypes show us just how much early photography is a kind of natural magic. Malin Fabbri’s book is a real gift – a much-needed manual on this beautiful and almost-forgotten process.”

- Dan Estabrook, Artist and educator

“The anthotype is a quaint and charming nexus from the very beginnings of photography and the fertile imaginations of artist – scientists such as Herschel, Hunt, and Somerville. It is perfect in it’s simplicity, requiring only the petals of new flowers, the essences of fruits and vegetables, a little alcohol, and sunshine… all of the perfect ingredients required for a romantic vacation. Malin Fabbri has collected an abundance of anthotype information and constructed a modest and lovely book that expresses not only the beauty of the process but also her genuine affection for the organic clarity of the materials.”

- Christopher James, Director MFA in Photography at The Art Institute of Boston

Artists included in the book

• Nancy Breslin
• Hans de Bruijn
• Beverly Conway
• Dan Estabrook
• Malin Fabbri
• Carol Golemboski
• Silvino Gonzàlez
• Jake Groenhof
• Katherine M. Hill
• Rosemary Horn
• Katja Krajnc
• Nicole Lawrence
• Sarah Lycksten
• Scott McMahon
• Ko Oosterwijk
• Fabio Pasquarella
• Jalo Porkkala
• Martin Helmut Reis
• Francis Schanberger
• Nicky Thompson MA
• Sarah Van Keuren
• Marydorsey Wanless

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin enjoys teaching the cyanotype process, taking a step back from the “easy” digital photos.

A print made at the Strathmore camera-less photo workshop.

I had a great day today, giving two camera-less photography workshops at Strathmore, a visual arts center in Bethesda, Maryland (just north of Washington, DC). In the morning I taught children how to make cyanotypes using paper that I had pre-coated. I let them loose on the grounds to collect plant samples, but they could also choose from flat objects I had brought along, including lace, cut paper and puzzle pieces. It was very overcast, so they had to be patient, but many of the prints came out beautifully.

Then I met with a group of adults. They began by coating their own paper with the cyanotype sensitizer (in a room lit by a string of holiday lights – I personally love the magical feel that lends to alt process work), and I gave a talk on the history of photography as the paper dried. The students then created cyanotype and lumen prints, with a choice of freshly picked leaves, lace or pressed flowers. With coating, arranging, fixing, rinsing, and drying spread over two floors of the Strathmore mansion, it was bit chaotic (but I had great help from Strathmore staff). The light was again less than ideal, but I think everyone could see the potential in these techniques, which are great for those without darkroom access who nonetheless wish to work with a non-digital photographic process.

I find teaching a joy, except for the grading, so teaching a workshop is heaven. It was very gratifying for me to see these methods so well received. As bombarded as we constantly are with fast, easy photos, taking the time to create a hand-crafted piece of photographic art is something more people should have the chance to do. I thank Holly Haliniewski of Strathmore for making today happen.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin goes to Ireland and London and finds pinholes in the gallery shop rather than on the exhibition wall.

Nancy's husband, Peter Caws, photographed her during a pinhole exposure at the cafe of the National Museum of Ireland.

I’d rather see pinhole and other alternative photography on gallery walls. We know there is lots of great work out there. But I suppose a presence in the gift shop is better than nothing.

Writer and photography / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin reports from Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2011.

Pinhole photograph by Nancy Breslin

I myself ventured out first thing on Sunday morning in my bathrobe, and photographed blossoms in our apple tree (#1328). We were expecting rain and I didn’t want to miss my chance.