Help me remember- prints on leaves?

keithwms · Sep 4, 2007

I recall that recently there was an exhibit in Virginia by a photographer who was printing onto plant leaves. Does anybody remember that, and have a link or some more detail? I am drawing a blank!

numnutz · Sep 4, 2007

Here's one in Vietnam.

http://www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants/features/2003/danh/index.html

nn

Akki14 · Sep 4, 2007

Weird! That's like a semi-living anthotype.

keithwms · Sep 4, 2007

Thanks, I think that must be him, I do remember hearing about it on NPR.

Ian Leake · Sep 4, 2007

Ted Preuss prints with pt/pd on leaves. Is he one you're looking for?
http://www.preussphotography.com/index.html

keithwms · Sep 4, 2007

All of Preuss' platinum images onto Bodhi tree leaves have SOLD!

...and I can see why, they are exquisite. Thanks Ian.

bjorke · Sep 4, 2007

Binh Dahn was BORN in Vietnam, but he lives in San Jose

MenacingTourist · Sep 16, 2007

I saw these at the Easton house last year when I visited. They were really cool but I don't remember who made them.

keithwms · Sep 16, 2007

Thanks for the references.

I gave a seminar and I wanted to mention the "photosynthetic" process because most people think chemical photography was nonexistent until Schulze and Scheele. But I am convinced that in the ~2 millennia between the first pinhole cameras and the discovery by Schulze, somebody must have made photographic prints using photosynthesis or bleaching of dyes etc. Not to insult Danh's work, but I think that it shows just how easy it is to get some kind of primitive photo-pattern or photograph without touching silver halide etc. Unfortunately these leaf or dye images probaby decayed quite quickly, so we wouldn't fnd them in the archaeology.

bjorke · Sep 16, 2007

Reminds me of avedon's story about using a large negative to print pictures on his sister as suntans when they were teens

there are also the folks in chicago (exhibiting in chicago, anyway) who used very large negatives to control the growth of grass on a large rectangle of sod, hence creating a "live print"

GCyberfish · Sep 16, 2007

hmmm... does this Binh Dahn just lie the negative on the leave, waits a few days, and then gets a positive? Some years ago I had the idea of a process for printing on leaves including developing with a solution of potassium iodide
plus iodine.

keithwms · Sep 16, 2007

Danh prints on living leaves by sandwiching the leaf and negative between glass plates. I think it takes weeks to get good contrast. But I think the leaf is kept alive during that period.

You can probably extract chlorophyll and carotene from leaves, coat paper with that, and then perhaps see an image after it has been left in the sun with a negative for a good, long while or exposed with a photoflood for a shorter time. I don't know offhand whether it would be robust and permanent though, probably you need to at least UV coat it to keep some contrast and I guess the whole thing would turn a monotonous brown quite rapidly. Well... let's see, dried autumn leaves can stay red for ages, so maybe the carotene is the thing to target for printing, rather than chlorophyll.

Maybe I will try this myself.

Akki14 · Sep 16, 2007

Keith - What you're describing is Anthotype. http://www.alternativephotography.com/process_anthotype.html
http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art098.html
I've been quite surprised but my first anthotype I did many months ago is still nicely purple (purple Iris petal juices). I don't keep it out in the sun but it's not faded in normal light conditions yet.

keithwms · Sep 16, 2007

Ah, wonderful link there Heather, thanks very much! Viola Odorata here I come!

Neil Miller · Sep 17, 2007

I recollect doing an experiment with leaves when at school - a long, long time ago so I can't really remember the details.

We taped a negative to a leaf and left it in the sun - can't remember for how long, days, possibly. The chlorophyl couldn't react with sunlight under the dark areas, so no photosynthesis took place. In the parts that received light, photosynthesis produced sugar in the form of starch. The leaf was treated - I think iodine was involved - which turned the areas that had photosynthesised black/blue. The rest of the leaf was a pale yellow colour.

It must have been known about for a very long time before it was used to illustrate photosynthesis in schools.

Regards,
Neil.

Allen Friday · Sep 17, 2007

For a different approach, check out: http://www.grand-illusions.com/roman.htm

Neil Miller · Sep 18, 2007

Allen, not such a different approach but almost exactly how it was demonstrated to us in a school science lesson over 35 yrs ago! The only difference was the negative taped to the leaf and sunlight instead of a projector.

Regards,
Neil.

GCyberfish · Sep 21, 2007

http://www.grand-illusions.com/roman.htm -that's it!

Help me remember- prints on leaves?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency