"Cyanotype is one of the oldest photographic printing processes. Similar to the blueprint process, light sensitive iron salts give a blue negative image on a piece of treated paper. Unlike the much more sensitive silver salts of traditional photographic emulsions, the cyanotype iron salts are sensitive only to ultraviolet light. For this reason cyanotype is usually used only to make contact prints from large-format negatives.

Here I have used cyanotype print paper as the negative itself. A fast lens focuses light directly onto the treated paper. The paper negative image that results is then scanned and digitally reversed. A color reversal yields an amber color - the complement of the prussian blue negative.

Normal camera lenses cannot be used, as they are coated to block ultraviolet light. For most of these images I have used a homemade camera. The "Juliecam 2" is made from one of those plastic boxes that 35mm slides often come back in from the processor. You know - the ones with the slip on, translucent lids. This lid works perfectly as a view-camera-like ground glass viewing screen. The lens, a simple 50mm f/1.5 double convex magnifying glass, is cemented over a hole in the bottom of the box. 2" x 3" pieces of cyanotype paper are taped to a sheet metal film holder, which is held onto the inside of the lid by a refrigerator magnet. Exposures are, typically, 5-10 minutes in bright sunlight.

A few of the images were made with an old 9x12cm folding camera. The original lens has been replaced
with a simple, double convex f/3.5 magnifier. It takes about 20-30 minutes in bright sunlight to get a good exposure." {{{{Depending on your lens you can get away with 1 – 2 HOURS at times….you have to test it.}}}}(DML)

see Beaver's cyano photographs gallery    Beaver Two     Beaver Three

CYANOTYPE PHOTONEGATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

 "...I came up with this photographic process while working on Astronomy: Images, Ideas and Perspectives, an art and astronomy exhibition that first showed in Waupaca, Wisconsin. The exhibition was a collaboration between myself and the artist Judith Baker, Associate Professor of Art at University of Wisconsin – Fox Valley. Cyanotype seemed a natural tie-in for representing the Sun, as the cyanotype process is sensitive only to ultraviolet light, of which the sun is the most obvious source. At first I made large format cameras with either huge plano-convex lenses (I teach physics, so such things are lying around the lab) or with multiple smaller lenses. The idea was that the original negative would be the picture. Eventually though, I realized that the images were more interesting when scanned and then reversed digitally. Several aspects of this process make it an appealing technique:

• The inevitably long time exposures give it a kinship with pinhole photography. No shutter is needed, and all motion disappears from the picture.
• The use of a fast, simple magnifier for a lens gives an unusual image that naturally blurs toward the edge (one way in which this process is decidedly unlike pinhole photography).
• The grain of the paper adds interesting texture to the image. The overall effect is not unlike that of a lithograph.
• The complement of the cyanotype Prussian blue color, upon digital reversal, yields appealing amber and sepia tones.
• The low sensitivity of cyanotype means no darkroom is needed. The unexposed cyanotype “film” can be stored safely in your pocket, and handled under normal incandescent room lighting, or even fluorescents or daylight shade for brief periods.
• The only chemical needed to develop the negatives is good old H2O.
• Suitable cyanotype paper is available at many toy stores, under the trade name Solargraphics®.
{{{ I have found it under NaturePrint.}}}} (DML) It is marketed as a toy for children to make shadow prints. The cost is only a few cents per exposure.
• If you want to make your own photographic emulsions, there is no simpler process than cyanotype.

I believe it is also useful as a technique for beginners."

REVIEW: OHIO ART LEAGUE;
TECHNIQUE MIXES PAST WITH PRESENT, NEAR WITH FAR Christopher A. Yates, for the Columbus Dispatch

  John Beaver's work is an inquisitive union of the antique and contemporary.
He combines cyanotype, an early photographic printing process, with computer-aided digital photography.
Easily identified by its rich blue color, the cyanotype was invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel. The process involves coating paper with a solution of light-sensitive salts (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide). Placed directly under a negative and exposed to full sunlight, the coated paper records a positive or contact print image. Water stops the process. Simpler and much cheaper than the method used to produce albumen or silver-gelatin prints, the technique was a favorite of late 19th-century photographers eager to make inexpensive proofs of their work.

Beaver uses the traditional cyanotype printing process in reverse. With specially constructed homemade cameras, he produces what he calls "cyanonegatives." By scanning the negatives on a computer and reversing the contrast, he reveals a positive image. The process changes the color from blue to sepia. In the diptych Golden Rod , Beaver displays the transformation.
While staying true to the antique method, he uses a technique that allows him to change scale and manipulate the image to some degree. Curiously, the computer serves as a method to produce prints as inexpensive as those of his 19th-century counterparts.

Two forces are at play in Beaver's imagery. Time, always a concern in photography, becomes manifest as he produces his cyanonegatives. Long exposures eliminate motion. Details fall away as edges and sharp contrasts become more pronounced. This effect and his choice of subject matter suggest studied meditation. Images such as Chair, The Bird Cage and St. Mary's Church become visual icons with a host of interpretive possibilities. Thoughts of location, history, support, bondage and faith emerge.

The other force prominent in his work is an examination of the physical world from the macro to the micro. Moving from a specific object or place, Beaver reduces his imagery to its essential form. On close examination, one sees surface texture and the brush strokes left from hand-sensitizing his paper. The effect is painterly, with an air of chance and unpredictability.
In Trees and Ice #2 , brushstrokes form a vignette around a copse of distant trees. The effect is a dialogue between near and far. Other pieces rely on segments or parts of a whole. In Pond, Green Bay, a union of eight images produces a grand, panoramic view of an ordinary scene.
Technical and visual experimentation guide Beaver's hand. Drawing from the past and the present, his work is strong and thought-provoking.

Ohio Art League show announcement
Tears of Rage: Cyanonegative and New Antiquarian Photography, John Beaver curated by Teresa Saska 2004-07-05 until 2004-07-31 Columbus, OH, USA
Ohio Art League www.oal.org
The Ohio Art League is pleased to present Tears of Rage: Cyanonegative and New Antiquarian Photography, John Beaver curated by Teresa Saska, in their July Member Curated Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view July 3 - 31. John Beaver writes: "I have always been fascinated by the beyond-the-snapshot possibilities of photography. For much of my photography I use a unique process that combines cyanotype - one of the oldest of photographic processes - with homemade cameras and modern digital scanning and printing."

Beaver continues, "Traditionally, cyanotype has been used only for making contact prints from large-format negatives. With the advent of modern digital scanning and printing technology, I discovered that it is now possible to use this process directly in the camera, as the negative "film" itself. Since normal camera lenses block the kind of light cyanotype responds to, I have to make my own cameras for what I call Cyanonegative Photography. The paper negative image that results is then scanned and digitally reversed and printed. Color reversal turns the strident Prussian Blue of the cyanotype original to amber and sepia tones. I am especially drawn to the painterly qualities of this photographic process, to the odd combination of the new and the antiquarian, and to the magnification of tiny, non-photographic details. It appeals to my inner nerdy-child-peering-at-pond-scum-through-a-microscope."

Review of John Beaver's cyanonegative photography by Diana Ludwig:
"The mood of the works is almost entirely one of hints. We peer through the veil Beaver has swept over his world, wondering. And we have to cling to the center, the only stable ground; here there is focus -- we've only this tunnel-like vision to work with. Leave it and move outward toward the edges and all dissolves under our feet. The intriguing graininess draws the eye in. It's a texture to relish and savor…giving room to dream and speculate, play in, float away in. Worry about. Yes, worry, for there's Being Here, there's memory, nostalgia, mystery, intrigue, sadness, loss, fading-away-ness, intransigency…. fuzz of vision and blurriness of heart. So one worries: Is this the only record of this bit of life? Is this all we have? What the heck was it about? What went on… and the sinking feeling that we'll never exactly find out…"