Blue Prints: The Natural World In Cyanotype Photos

Zeva Oelbaum's cyanotype botanicals (blue photographic prints) create an unexpected, otherworldly effect. Zeva's own words (further below, from the introduction), capture the scientific, photographic properties of cyanotype, but there is a romantic mood created by the simplicity of color and shape of these contemporary images from an antique and nearly-forgotten 19th-century process. About her own work with blue print photography, Oelbaum writes: "I became fascinated by the cyanotype process when I learned that it holds an important, if unrecognized, place in the history of photography. In 1843, British botanist Anna Atkins (1799-1871) published a landmark volume of over four hundred cyanotypes entitled British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. This book was the first to be illustrated entirely with photographs. To make the prints, Atkins placed the algae specimens on paper coated with iron salts, then exposed it to sunlight. When she washed the print in water, the outcome was a white specimen outlined on a prussian blue background. Images created in this manner came to be known as blue prints. In this way she created photograms, or 'shadowgraphs' as she called them, of each original plant." The book is a striking example of the multitude of shapes and forms that nature provides, if we only know how to look. For more information on "Blue Prints," visit BellemeadeBooks(dot)blogspot(dot)com and search for "cyanotype."

As digital imaging takes over photography, large format, fine art photography using historical techniques such as cyanotype will become very rare and hopefully valuable. I purchased several 8x10 large format cameras for use with making cyanotype prints. Sure, I love my Nikon D200 and plan to get a D700 as well, but I don't believe digital images will create fine art photographic art that will appreciate in value compared to large format film images.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this gem in a discount store, amongst all the other boring coffee table artbooks. The pictures are absolutely stunning and inspiring. It's sad that photographic processes like this are falling by the wayside. If you love blue and photography, then get this book.

カラーやモノクロ、そしてレントゲン写真では表現し得ない美世界がそこにはある。独特の技法Cyanotypeによって映しだされたblueの対象は空でも海でもなく、もともと固有の色を持った花や昆虫などである。 どの写真もクォリティが高く、一貫して裏切らないblueの透明感と被写体の繊細さに、ページをめくるたびため息が漏れる。心にしみる1冊である。