It's pokeberry harvesting season and while I am a little fuzzy on how edible they are, the birds love them and they are the perfect organic material to create an anthotype.
For those of you reading this who don't know what an anthotype is, let me offer a little information. The anthotype is yet another process invented by Sir John Herschel around 1842. It is a direct postive process because the sun bleaches away unprotected areas of a substrate coated with organic dye. If I were to use a photographic negative, I would get a copy of that negative in anthotype. If use a postive print or transparency such as the image above, I would get a single color postive copy of the picture. Here's a link to an exhibtion of anthotypes that took place at Ryerson University. http://www.imagearts.ryerson.ca/topographica/Anthotype.html
Herschel used pigments from flowers such as the Iris for this process. Contemporary practitioners have used beets and berries for creating their images.
This will be my first anthotype and I plan on giving the exposure about 3 weeks in the late summer early autumn Ohio sun to have a really strong image. I'll post here once the exposure is started.
Let the grand experiment begin.
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