We ran a Sunography workshop with St Luke’s Community Centre last weekend; it was fun and the community loved making flower prints.
Sunography is the forerunner of modern photographic processes. We use a special type of print called a cyanotype to create negative images of flowers. You will need to expose the cyanotype to bright sunlight in order to get the negative image of the flower – it’s a simple process but the result varies according to many things: the intensity of light, the presence of wind, the attachment of the flower to the paper.
It’s a process that is enjoyed hugely for its element of surprise, because the final image is revealed after you rinse the paper in water. However, I don’t run the activity just because it’s surprising and fun. I think it’s also a good activity to encourage plant observation and an appreciation of plants.
Many of my students ask me: how long will it take us to learn about plants?
My answer is usually disappointing: it takes a lifetime, as it’s not really about learning. It’s about studying, which is a different process from reading books trying to memorise hundreds of Latin names. It’s about observing and learning to appreciate the strengths of each plant. In a way, we all need to build some sort of a relationship with the plants in order to understand and gradually love them – the same as with humans.
When I see my design students taking photos of plants on study trips, I always insist that they spend some time observing the plants before they take their cameras out. Observing is different from seeing: it’s an active process through which our brains filter the information we see.
The best way to observe is obviously to draw. Over the years, though, I have found other fun methods to introduce to my students, and sunography is one of them.
I feel that it’s actually this constructive time they spend with the plant that will make them remember and appreciate the plant next time they work on a planting scheme. Printing sunographs of details of the plant will help them remember the specifics: the form and size of leaves, the size and shapes of flowers. These are important details that matter when it comes to landscape design.
