Laura A. Jackett

65 North Drive • Rochester, NY 14612 • (585) 225-0065 • laurajackett@yahoo.com • laurajackett.net

Program Title: Cyanotype Photography

Length of Program: minimum 1.5 hours, can be extended

Audience limit: 15

Set up Time: 30 minutes

Space Required: open room with work tables, sinks large enough to accommodate 10” x 11” inch paper, electrical outlets

Other Special Requirements: copy machine that accepts transparencies or transparency maker (optional)

Equipment Needs:: provided by instructor: light sensitive solution, rag paper or organic cloth, distilled water, foam brushes, mylar sheets, scissors, clear tape, black permanent markers, drying rack or clothesline, plastic measuring spoons, brown bottles, plastic mixing dish, funnel, plate glass

Equipment Needs: provided by students: high contrast images for the copy machine, black ink transparencies of images printed on home printers (all optional)

Course Description: Magic happens! Transform plain white paper into a rich blue photograph. Students will produce blue photographic prints using Cyanotype, one of the earliest and most beautiful non-silver processes in photography. This workshop, photographic in nature, requires no darkroom or extensive equipment.

We’ll take something old and something blue and give it a new interpretation. These blue prints are made with the help of the sun so bring your sunglasses. Participants will coat paper with a light sensitive solution using a foam brush and work on their negatives. To make a negative, students may draw on a transparent sheet using a permanent marker, cut out and tape down pieces of old photographic negatives, or use the copy machine to transfer a previously created image to a transparent sheet. Participants will place their negative and interestingly shaped objects such as stencils on their now dry paper and carry outside to the sun. Exposure takes approximately five to ten minutes. For development, the paper is placed under running water for five minutes. Afterwards, the images are hung up to dry for about one hour. This workshop is a lot of fun!