At the end of last summer, I had the opportunity to give a workshop on cyanotype printing in Midnight Kitchen’s community garden. Using collected plant matter from the garden along with some recycled fabrics, string, and glitter, we experimented with this 19th century photographic process.

I instructed the participants on the history of cyanotype printing as a predecessor of photography, and we talked about the chemical process that creates the image when exposed to UV light. I then explained the difference between a photographic negative and positive and how cyanotypes are a negative image.

Using Midnight Kitchen’s community garden, we collected plant material like leaves, stems, and flowers as a basis for our compositions. With some of my work as an example, I showed participants how layering in the exposure would effect the prints, as well as how adjusting for exposure times can create clearer details in the final print.

Cyanotype can be a tricky process with a lot of variables that can effect the outcome, like UV strength, chemical contamination, exposure times, and paper type. With this in mind, it is pretty much impossible to make the same print twice. This lack of perfection is a really great push to really experiment with the medium and everyone participating really embraced that.