WORKSHOP – Advanced Anthotype and Experimental Cyanotype Explorations with Malin Fabbri, June 1-6, Norway

For EARLY BIRD sign up offer or questions, contact post@nordphotography.com

The Alchemy of Sunlight

DATES: June 1-6, 2027
LOCATION: Saga – Inderøy – Norway
More info and sign up here

Join Malin Fabbri, founder and editor of AlternativePhotography.com and author of several books on cyanotype, anthotype, and alternative photographic processes, for an exclusive week of learning, experimentation, and image-making in a small group setting.
This intensive hands-on course combines studio and darkroom work with outdoor printing sessions. Participants will learn anthotypes from the ground up, gaining the knowledge and to continue the process independently. The course also covers cyanotypes, including mixing your own chemicals, determining exposure times, creating basic digital negatives, and exploring a range of experimental techniques such as wet cyanotypes.​

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
We begin our workshop with anthotypes, one of the earliest and most ephemeral photographic methods, where plant pigments and sunlight form delicate, slow-growing images.

Participants will extract colour from flowers, leaves, and botanicals, transforming natural dyes into handmade emulsions. You will learn how different pigments behave, how to prepare papers, and how to create both photograms and prints from digital positives.

The pigments we extract will naturally carry into the cyanotype toning process, creating a subtle dialogue between the two techniques. This meditative work invites a slower way of seeing, a way of noticing how colours change, accepting that nothing stays the same, and working closely with the physical qualities of the pigments themselves.

We then move into the deep Prussian blues of classic cyanotype, grounding the workshop in the traditional formula and foundational techniques of coating, exposing, and printing.

From there, the workshop expands into a range of experimental cyanotype practices: layered exposures, wet cyanotypes, chemical interventions, pigment integration, toning, and then moving on to lumen printing and cyanolumen.

Participants will work both outdoors with sunlight and indoors with UV lights to explore repeatable and unpredictable results.

Throughout the workshop, the emphasis is on the techniques becoming a tool for artistic development and expression, whether you are working with textures, building layers, pushing contrast, or creating botanical photograms that echo the earliest days of photography. You will be encouraged to explore your own themes, refine your visual language, and challenge habitual ways of working.

Individual guidance and critique sessions will help you identify artistic directions and integrate these processes meaningfully into your broader practice.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have a collection of cyanotype and anthotype prints that reflect their own creative vision, along with a deeper understanding of how light, pigment, and material can shape artistic expression. More than learning a set of techniques, artists will leave with the confidence to continue experimenting independently, and with a renewed sense of curiosity, play, and possibility in their work.

This class is open to artists and photographers at all levels.

Read more and sign up here.

Optinal extra: If you want to create image-based anthotypes and cyanotypes and are new to digital negatives, you can add an optional 3-hour introductory session. This session covers selecting suitable images, preparing digital negatives, and making prints. While working with negatives is not required for the workshop, we highly recommend this session for anyone wishing to incorporate photographs into their work, as it provides a strong foundation for the rest of the course.

Extra production days: For those wishing to further develop their skills and spend more time working with the processes, there is an option to add 1–2 extra days at the end of the course. During this extended period, participants can work independently on anthotypes and cyanotypes with full access to the studio and darkroom facilities. Instruction and support will be available throughout the day for questions, guidance, and feedback.