Laura A. Jackett 

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

Program Title: Van Dyke Photography

Program Format:  Workshop

Length of Program: 1.5 hours, can be extended

Audience limit: 15 Age Level: 7+

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

Set up Time: 30 minutes

Equipment Needs: provided by sponsor: Xerox machine which accepts mylar sheets (optional)

provided by instructor: plastic measuring spoons, brown bottles, plastic mixing dish, funnel, plate glass, scissors, clear tape, black permanent markers

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

Course Description:  Make photographs without a camera! The possibilities are endless and well within the grasp of the beginner, while challenging for those with experience in photography. This is a great workshop with materials that are totally transportable. We will be working with Van Dyke, a historical process from the 1800s which produces a brown and white photograph on paper or cloth. Bring old black and white negatives and interestingly shaped objects to class if you have them.

You will first coat paper with Van Dyke’s special mixture of a light sensitive solution. You will make a negative by drawing on a transparency using a permanent marker, cutting out and attaching pieces of old black and white negatives, or using the copy machine to transfer a previously created image to a transparent sheet. These chemicals are extremely light sensitive so you’ll see the exposure begin as soon as you take it out to the sunlight. After exposure, develop with running water.