Last week I had the pleasure of receiving an e-mail from photographer Edd Carr who wrote, “I was hired to make a music video for Tycho Jones by Globe Town Records of Shoreditch, London. As I was given total creative freedom, the video also deals thematically with birds and their relationship to culture and the climate crisis. I’d love it if you could share, or be interested in a feature on your website.”
With its striking blue hue and rapid juxtaposition of images, it’s immediately apparent this unique video was made using an alternative photographic process. What was Edd’s creative approach? It turns out the entire video was printed in Cyanotype, a total of five thousand frames printed and animated together! But what’s a Cyanotype? I asked Edd to shed some light on this incredible process and how and why he adapted it for this video. Here’s what he had to say:
For folks who do not know, what are Cyanotypes?
Cyanotypes are a historic photographic process, that is done via contact printing instead of using a camera. Two chemicals are combined: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Made into a light-sensitive emulsion, this can then be painted onto a variety of surfaces for exposure. As a contact process, you place your negatives directly onto the sensitized surface, and expose to UV light. This produces a chemical reaction which produces the famous cyan-blue colour, which are then washed in water. They were famously used for replicating architect’s drawings due to their low cost and ease of reproduction – where the common moniker of ‘blueprints’ comes from. The process was invented by John Herschel, and are today one of the most popular alternative photographic processes.
What inspired you to use cyanotypes for this project?
A few things. Firstly, my own practice involves the adaptation of alternative photographic processes into moving image – as well as innovating new methods of animation. For example, I have made animations using pinholes, 35mm stills, lumen prints and more. I also animated on natural materials, such as my animations on soil and wood. I had done a couple of clips using cyanotypes, for my film A Guide to British Trees. However, I had never done an entire animation in this way due to cost and time reasons. Therefore, when given the support and backing of the music label, I thought it was the perfect time to attempt this photographic and filmmaking first. In addition, I felt that cyanotype, and its aesthetic was a good fit for the musician and his own themes of escape, anxiety, and release.
How do you photograph each frame? (as much detail as possible – did you use a still camera, movie camera?)
The majority (of the video) is filmed on an entry-level DSLR, using a 10-22mm lens. This footage is then edited, and split into individual jpegs at 24fps. This meant for each second of footage, I had 24 individual images that needed printing. So overall, I had to print around 5,000 frames. To do this in cyanotype, I converted them to digital negatives, and printed on biodegradable acetate. These were then printed 9 negatives per sheet, kind of like a contact sheet – but the images still in negative. Following this, I would coat cyanotype onto watercolour paper, contact the negatives, and print them using a UV bed. For the final stage they were washed in water to develop, dried, and each frame scanned. In total, this meant doing around 580 a4 prints at 9 frames per print.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I am an independent artist and researcher from the North York Moors National Park, UK. My work explores our emotional experience of the ecological crisis – through the use of photography and moving image. I am interested in how our current systems produce cycles of trauma and violence, and the need for ecological transformation. From a research perspective, I run an initiative called the Northern Sustainable Darkroom, which strives towards an ecological future for photography – through both the way we work and the way we think about the medium. I am the author of a number of research papers on the subject, including The Ecology of Grain, which investigates the use of animal gelatin in film.
How long have you been shooting film? What are your favorite format(s)?
Strictly speaking, I had film cameras as a kid – including a couple of Polaroids and a 35mm camera. However, my interest really began in 2016 during my undergraduate degree – where I experimented with a variety of film formats and analogue processes. Previously shooting digital, I was drawn to the tactile nature of analogue processes, and a feeling of material engagement that is lacking in the digital realm. I also worked a lot with alternative processes, particularly contact processes such as cyanotype and lumen printing. I found these even more exciting, as it opened up a whole world of experimentation with materials that can be difficult in traditional photography.
At the moment, my most used film format is a bulk stock black and white that I buy from eBay called Polypan F. I load the rolls myself using a bulk loader, and develop them in home-made developer (often caffenol). As part of the Sustainable Darkroom, I try to keep my shooting as sustainable as possible – meaning I don’t use colour formats. But from a purely aesthetic perspective – I love the look and feel of slide film, particularly Fuji Provia. My favourite alternative process is a close call between cyanotype and lumen prints.
HERE COMES THE WILDFIRE from Ed Carr on Vimeo.
How often do you use analog media in modern digital projects?
Quite a lot, actually! Despite working a lot with analogue in the past, and as part of the Northern Sustainable Darkroom – I do find that the future of photography involves a proper marriage of analogue and digital formats. All of my video projects have adapted analogue formats to video – such as medium format stills, 35mm, and a variety of print formats. One of my most recent films – Here Comes the Wildfire! – was printed entirely using the lumen process in my garden during the coronavirus lockdown. I used expired Ilford paper, water, and sunshine to produce a moving image work on the increased threat of wildfires from climate change. At present, all my future projects involve adapting analogue processes in some form – so definitely more to come!