Cyanotypes

 What do you get when you paint a sheet of watercolor paper with a special photosensitive liquid, then expose it to sunlight with a negative pressed over it? 

Well, it depends. 

I suppose there are any number of possible outcomes. But if you use a certain combination of chemicals, expose the paper to the sun for the correct amount of time, and wash the print in water, then, with a little luck, you'll end up with a cyanotype -- a beautiful, unique, blue-and-white print.

I've been studying and practicing this historic method of printmaking, which was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842... and enjoying every moment.

There are different ways to tone cyanotypes to alter the blue coloring, and there are plenty of other alternative print methods to explore. But for the moment, I'm enjoying the pure Prussian blue of the cyanotype. From choosing a subject and composing the shot down to the final blue image fixed on watercolor paper, printmaking has added a whole new (and fantastically fun) aspect to my photography.

I love it.

Williamsburg

On a recent photo walk in Williamsburg, Virginia, I was looking for some digital photography fun. I had my Nikon ready and was looking to capture anything and everything that suited my photographic whims.

But of course my photographic whims also had to include some off-the-wall methodology. I've been wanting to try selectively coating my lens (don't worry: the clear UV filter, not the lens glass itself) with Vaseline, but all I had on hand was a plain chapstick.

I applied it to part of the filter and started snapping away to see what types of effects it would create. This peacefully grazing horse was my first unwitting subject.

The chapstick had a stripey effect on some photos...

 

...but lent a soft glow to others.

Bruton Parish Church

To my surprise, the chapstick also added a starburst effect to the lights coming on at dusk.

Colonial Williamsburg is a beautiful place to watch daylight  fade away into night. 

And apparently it's also well-suited to chapstick-enhanced digital photography. 

Next time: Vaseline!

Cremona

One of my favorite places from our trip to Italy this spring was the breathtaking medieval cathedral square of Cremona, called Piazza del Comune.

The cathedral, built in the 12th century, is a Romanesque structure that has been updated with Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements. To the right is the baptistery, whose origins also lie in the 12th century. The 13th and 14th-centry bell tower is called the Torrazzo, which is supposedly the origin of the name of Cremona's favorite Christmastime treat: torrone.

We spent a couple of hours in this piazza, people watching, exploring the cathedral and baptistery, and soaking in our beautiful surroundings.
Here, la vita is definitely dolce.

Streets of Rome

I've been looking back nostalgically at photos I took of the streets of the Eternal City...

San Giovanni in Laterano

Via dei Fori Imperiali

Piazza del Colosseo

Via del Corso

Piazza Venezia

Silky Waters

The calm before the storm.

Well.. okay, not directly before the storm. This was taken a couple of weeks ago in Poquoson, VA. It's an interesting area with beautiful seascapes. I'd like to go back soon, hopefully finding its quirky beauty unchanged by the hurricane.

Cross Processing

For a while now, my favorite photos have been monochrome: whether black and white, sepia, or coffee-stained, they have a je ne sais quoi about them that I can't seem to get enough of. But then I discovered cross processing, a developing technique that gives color photos a whole new appeal.

Piacenza, Italy

In the above image, I've overlapped five cross-processed photos to form a panoramic collage.

Here's how it works. Negative film is designed to be processed in C-41 chemicals, while slide film (which yields a positive instead of a negative, i.e. "normal" colors), should be processed in E-6 chemicals. The terms themselves aren't that important; what matters is which type of film is processed in what. Processing one in the type designed for the other can result in unrealistic and sometimes fantastic color shifts. In the photos of Piacenza above, for example, note the blue-green sky and the greenish tint to the buildings.

Piazza del Popolo, Rome

For this set of images, I used positive slide film that was then processed in chemicals designed for negative film. Although I was a bit disappointed with the results at first (I didn't like the harsh greenish cast that this particular film and processing combination gave me), adjusting their opacity made a world of difference. Once I rendered the photos translucent, the colors softened... and as I overlapped them one over the next, I liked them more and more. In the end, I loved the resulting tones.

The Pantheon, Rome

Cross processing seems to be proof that rules are meant to be broken. See what fun can be had when you do things all wrong?

One more: Cremona's fairy-tale-perfect cathedral.

So far, I like these results. But I have plans to try other films, as well as cross processing the other way... stay tuned!

For Chocolate L♥vers

My newest photographic obsession has a sweet tooth.
If it has chocolate in its name, it has to be good, right?

Right!
Even when we're talking about film.

It turns out that Polaroid made a Type 100 peel-apart instant film for Land Cameras that comes in a special chocolate version. It's no longer being produced, and the stock that is still available today is already a couple of years expired. But that doesn't seem to detract anything from its deep chocolate darks and caramel-colored lights... or from the thrill of taking a photo and holding a freshly developed, still damp and gooey, chocolate-toned print in your hands just 90 seconds after having pressed the shutter.

Train tracks near Lee Hall Depot

Here's how it works: After pressing the shutter, the film is pulled out of the side of the camera, an action that breaks the pockets of developing chemicals and spreads them over the photo. The photo, protected between two layers of paper and plastic, then develops for a short amount of time, 90 seconds for the chocolate film. Then the two layers of paper are pulled apart in a smooth motion, with bated breath and much anticipation. With a little luck, a developed photo will be revealed inside.

I took my Polaroid Land Camera loaded with chocolate film to the the tiny lighthouse at Buckroe Beach...

...and to the tall, dignified, and still functioning light at Fort Story: New Cape Henry Light.

Birds at Buckroe Beach.

I was hoping one of them would model for me from up close, and I had meant to come up behind them in hopes of having them move closer to the water. But they were so quiet and serious, solemnly facing in the same direction, that I didn't have the heart to disturb them and instead photographed them just as they were.

With a little luck, the film can be used indoors... although the results will be dark. Here, Tibetan monks are working on a sand mandala during the American Theater's Tibet Week.

Who says chocolate is only for dessert?