ON THE WAY TO INVENTING THE PHOTOGRAPH, quite a lot of ingenious methods of fixing images to paper (or tin or glass) popped up. Platinum/Palladium, Gum Bichromate, Bromoil, Salt Print, Tintype, Ziatype, and Daguerreotype are a few of the forerunners.

 

Cyanotypes are probably the simplest and least toxic of the lot. In 1842 an English astronomer, Sir John Herschel, discovered that a solution of potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate could reproduce an image on paper with sunlight. The blueprint was born. 

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Miss Anna Atkins, an educated Victorian lady, and botanist, learned to make cyanotypes from Sir Herschel himself. In 1843, she produced a book of exquisite seaweed specimens, which became the very first book of photographs—by anyone. Her prints retain that vivid Prussian blue with sharp white detail now as they did over a century ago. (You can see them at the Natural History Museum in London.) Anna Atkins was more than just a cataloger of specimens—she was an artist and designer.

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I've been experimenting with cyanotypes since 2021 and have used photo transparencies along with paper cut-outs and botanicals to create recent images. I think the addition of a

bit of watercolor has done the pictures some good.

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