Anthotype Examples

 These are example Anthotypes. Instructions can be found in the below blog post.

Anthotypes

Right now we are researching alternative processes, and I decided that I am going to try to produce Anthotypes. Anthotypes are prints you make using plants. More specifically the juice from the petals of flowers, the peel from fruits, and the pigment from plants.

Materials I'll Need:

• Petals from a colorful flower or other plant, or colorful berries
• Electric food blender or mortar and pestle
• Bowl to mix ingredients
• Water or alcohol
• Coffee filter
• Paintbrush
• Art Paper
• Contact print frame
• A large positive (NOT NEGATIVE)
• Sunlight

The process to make an anthotype goes as follows:

1. Make Your Emulsion

        Your emulsion can be made using either a food blender or a mortar and pestle. If the plants or berries are too dry, you may need to dilute them a little. Things you can use to dilute your substance include water, alcohol. lighter fluid, and olive oil, to name a few. You then need to drain your emulsion. Pour your emulsion over a coffee filter, letting the liquid seep through into a container, and then discard the pulp.

2. Prepare The Canvas
         Any paper that can hold your emulsion can be used, but watercolor paper is recommended to start out with until you become comfortable. To get the emulsion on the paper you can either brush it on or dip the paper into the emulsion.

3. Print The Anthotype
          Place your objects or positive onto the material to make a print. The print develops out in the sun over several days or weeks. The sun develops the print by bleaching the colors of the pigment. Each emulsion will have it's own developing time, and each will turn out differently. No rinsing or fixing is necessary.  

Body Image

Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine was an American photographer and sociologist. He used his photos to reform the child labor laws in the United States. Hine became staff photographer for the Russell Stage Foundation in 1906. In 1908 Hine became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. For the next ten years he photographed and documented child labor in the Carolina Piedmont. In 1913 he documented children workers in cotton mills with composite portraits. He also photographed the American Red Cross in Europe during World War I, and would work for them again during the Great Depression  in America. He later photographed a series of portraits which focused on how people contribute to modern industry. In 1930, Hine photographed the construction of the Empire State Building from a basket floating 1,000 feet above the ground. He served as chief photographer for the WPA, and there are now more than 5,000 of his photographs in the Library of Congress. For more information on Hine, please visit the links below these examples of his work. 

Additional Links:

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos/

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who became well known for her photographs of celebrities. She took up photography at a late age for the 1800's (48), after her daughter gave her a camera as a present, and had a very short-lived adventure in photography, lasting only eleven years.  Her work, especially her cropped portraits, became much more appreciated as it got into modern times, but was not always liked during her own time. Due to her sister's job, Julia had the rare opportunity to photograph many famous and important people of her time. These included; Ellen Terry, Robert Browning, Charles Darwin, and many more. Many of Julia's portraits were close-cropped around her subject's face, and were often done in soft focus. Some of her photos were even blurry, or had the subject almost out of the frame, which caused her to be made fun of by other photographers.I found her photographs of her "angels" the most interesting.  For more information and more of Julia's photos please visit the links below these examples of her work.

More on Julia:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/camr/hd_camr.htm
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=2026

Eadweard Muybridge

Muybridge was an english photographer who was most famous for his strides in motion photography, and also motion-picture projection. He is also known for his creation of the zoopraxiscope, a tool used to project motion pictures. In the early years of his photography, he was known for his photos of the Alaskan Tlingit people, and also his landscape photos of the Yosemite Valley. The 1880's were the most productive years for Muybridge. During this time, he developed over 100,000 images of humans and animals in motion. His work inspired and greatly influenced scientific and industrial photography for many years, and still does today. For more information and images, please visit the links at the bottom of this post.

Additional Links:
http://www.eadweardmuybridge.co.uk/
http://americanhistory.si.edu/muybridge/

Bird's Eye View Post/ Self Assessment

This assignment was the hardest one for me so far. The only pictures I took that I really liked for this assignment were taken at City Hall, and I only have so many that are good enough to upload. Also, we only got to go up into city hall once, so I tried to kind of rush to get enough pictures to use for the assignment. I like the idea of birds eye view pictures, but I found it very hard to get the right exposures and focus. If I had to do this assignment again I would probably go somewhere that I had unlimited time and wasn't so bright so everything wouldn't be blown out. All of that being said, here are three of my images from the assignment.