News at Buckley

Concentrating on Cyanotypes

Last year, current senior Jessica R. labored in the school’s dark room creating her body of work to fulfill the requirements of her AP Art concentration. In this particular portfolio, students had to demonstrate growth and understanding of a similar subject and media through twelve pieces.
For her subject, she chose landscapes and symmetry. For her media, she chose one of the oldest methods of photography: cyanotypes.

“Ms. Mahoney taught us the process of creating cyanotypes in Photo II, and I really liked its’ simplicity. I liked that the image wasn’t being manipulated in Photoshop – it was a very hands-on method. Anna Atkins is considered by some to be the first female photographer, and used this method, which was also inspiring.”

The process is simple in that there is no computer manipulation involved, but it’s not quite as easy as “point and shoot.”

“In the darkroom, first you paint a chemical onto the paper, then you blow dry it,” explained Jessica. “Once it’s dry, you put the negatives on the paper where you think the chemicals are. Then I would put a sheet of glass over the image to hold it down, and leave it in the sun for about ten minutes.”

Jessica used a Canon TI Rebel to capture the shots, most of which were taken on family trips. “Some of these were taken in Utah - this one was taken in Costa Rica,” she said, pointing out one of the photos.

What makes her pieces stand out from other landscapes is her use of symmetry. In all of her pieces, she used either two or four photos to create reflective images.

The most difficult part of the project? “The chemicals are clear, so you’re never sure if the photo is going to work or not. It’s kind of a big guessing game until you bring it out into the sun. I must have gone through about 25 to 30 attempts before I got the 12 pieces that I liked.”

In certain pieces that didn’t quite work out the way she wanted them to, Jessica had to get creative with how she used the process: “For this one [titled Cyanotype 1] I cut pieces of the negative that were missing and glued it onto the picture.”

To show for her incredible portfolio, Jessica received two Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key awards, and one of her photos was also accepted to the Drexel University exhibit. 
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