Summer is Cyan — Rachael M. Gonzalez

Summer is the season of cyanotypes because I personally feel I must use the summer sun instead of a studio enlarger. If I want a good exposure, I have to make hay while the sun shines- this means getting outside whenever it is sunny and making as many as possible while I can. It is awesome to me how I can feel the passage of time and season through this process, how much closer I feel to the land, the way that the sun peaks at midsummer and makes the crispest exposures at only 3 or 4 minutes- and then a month later, and a month later still, I am exposing closer to 8 or 10 minutes at the very same time of day. I feel the summer fleeting and I have been traveling a lot, not able to bring these delicate setups with me.

I am happy with some of these exposures and experimenting more with bleaching and toning. Instant coffee makes a wonderful sepia, while green tea makes a more victorian dark blue/black. I want to try working with chestnut, oak leaf, black walnut next but I need to catch up on making an ample stack first to play with. Some of them I have been working back into with chalk.