Margaret D. Andrews
Some time ago you were born into life, and by now you have grown used to existing. You were born to seeing too, and if I’m not mistaken, you are by now more or less accustomed to seeing things all day long and thinking little of it. That’s natural, I guess, although there is a problem with getting too used to things; you begin to take them for granted, and what you take for granted you probably don’t get the most from.
You have a birthday every year just to celebrate the fact that you were born. To reallycelebrate your birthday is to fully understand all the wonder in that unbelievable happening, your coming into the life that you are. There is joy in this awareness that lasts longer than birthday cake.
The same should be true of your seeing. Even though you have been seeing things all your life, you are never too old to really begin to see—to see more consciously. “Perceive” is perhaps a better word to use than “see,” since it better suggests taking hold of something fully and absorbing it into yourself in order to know it. While it is true that you can also perceive things by touching, tasting and hearing, you especially perceive things by seeing.
When you find a rock whose weight and texture make you want to handle it over and over again, you can put it in your pocket and carry it with you. When you have perceived something with your eyes that you want to keep, you can photograph it.
To photograph something means to write it down with light. The word “photograph” comes from the ancient Greek “photos,” which means light, and “grapho,” to write. The word “grapho” originally meant to engrave or scratch into rock, and thousand of years ago that’s what humans did to record something for keeps—they scratched it into rock. Since then, we have discovered how to write using a brush, crayon, pencil, pen, and typewriter. It has been only recently that we have learned how to write with light.
I can remember being at the beach with some of my friends one summer when I was younger. It was the beginning of our vacation, a time for the first shedding of street clothes for the freedom of bathing suits. At the end of the day we happened to notice that, when an adhesive bandaid fell off my friend’s arm, the perfect shape of the band aid remained light against the beginning tan of the rest of his skin.
This gave us a great idea. The next day we returned with rolls of adhesive tape and scissors. It didn’t take us long to have taped on our exposed skin not only the letters of our names, but all sorts of designs; flowers, a seagull with outstretched wings, and even a dinosaur.
We spent more time just lying in the sun than playing in the water, but we felt it was worth it. After three days of tanning we pulled off all the tape and revealed a collection of decorated skin. We thought we were terrific. Although we didn’t realize it then, we had made our first photographs: we had written with light on our very skin.
You, of course, can make your first photographs just as we did. But if you are already tanned, or if you would rather not make a display on your skin, you can also create your first photographs on any good sized live and growing green leaf. Don’t pick it off the plant. Simply tape what you like on the side facing the sun and wait about a week. When you carefully remove the adhesive tape you will find the white image of it remains. When you have an image you like, if you don’t think the plant will be hurt by your taking its leaf, snip it off and press it to dry between the pages of a heavy book. If you’ve done your art work well, you’ll have a lasting and unusual creation, written with light.
As you can now see, all you need to make a photograph are four things: light, something sensitive to light; an image you want to capture; and that personal touch which allows you and the rest of the world to know that this was perceived and celebrated by you alone, by you personally. That’s what photography is all about; it is a celebration of your seeing.
These sun prints are great fun and can also be accomplished with SunPrint paper, which can be obtained in many art supply stores. This is the modern cyanotype process. Cyanotypes were originally used to make blue prints and other charts. It then became an art form.
It is great for classroom use because it does not require a camera, and it is developed in plain tap water. The finished images are blue and white.