These four 70x100cm cyanotype photograms were made in early December 2019, with intermittent sunshine and a very low sun angle – even with the filming assembly angled towards the sun, the arrangement needed to be constructed so that the shadows didn’t extend off the top of the screen.
These conditions made the exposures challenging, but has led to a range of qualities in each of the four versions.
The process of setting up the arrangement.
Two days of shadows of the arrangement, overlaid.
The process of taking down the arrangement.
The stages of deconstruction of the arrangement, with the hands omitted.
As with the filming, the low sun angle necessitated the prints being propped at an angle while exposing to ensure the shadows were not too long to fit on the sheet of paper. Due to intermittent cloud cover and the weak UV in the low winter sun, the prints needed to be exposed for long periods – 50 minutes if no cloud cover, but some were several hours, and even overnight (being covered up to avoid fogging in general daylight or artificial light). This mean that the print needed to be rotated regularly to keep the shadows in roughly the same position.
eleanorsuess.works 