ESG holds workshop on ‘Historic photography process’

Pune: The Exciting Science Group (ESG) introduced the photographic process to students of Std VIII, IX and X by organising a workshop on ‘Historic photography process’ on Saturday.
 
The ESG is a volunteer group of scientists from CSIR-NCL and IISER-Pune. The three-hour workshop had 14 students from municipal and government-aided schools. The art conservator, S Girikumar introduced this ancient technique to the students. 

Gayatri Kshirsagar, Associate of ESG said that it was an unique photography workshop as the camera was not required.  It was discovered by English scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1842. This process was widely used as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints. 

It was Anna Aitkins who brought this to photography. In 1843, using this process, she created a limited series of cyanotype books titled ‘Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions’ that documented ferns and other plant life from her collection, said Gayatri.

The aim of this workshop was to introduce steps like preparation of chemical solutions, coating the paper, printing, processing which are involved in creating cyanotype prints to the students. The participants produced photographic prints by using plant leaves, flowers and chemicals. 

All ESG activities are supported by generous donations from the Forbes Marshall Foundation, the Praj Foundation, Nag Foundation and the Persistent Foundation.