Seashore life in minute detail

Posted on September 9, 2020September 9, 2020 by carlotta

Seashore life in minute detail

My cyanotype journey continues with what became a surprisingly beloved subject matter over the past months. While I was photographing the wide expanse of the Seven Sisters white cliffs, I ended up turning my lens down to the tiny world of the seaweed that covers the rocks at Hope Gap.

I became interested in the minute detail of shore life – glossy, rubbery, bumpy seaweed, shiny wet rocks and the hard circular forms of snails. There is something about the cyanotype process that sharpens and enhances details in a photograph, making the seaweed even glossier and bumpier, the rocks shinier. It was exciting to take this tiny spot on the beach and enlarge it so that all of that life was visible.

In my Artwave show, I am exhibiting a Hope Gap seaweed print that is over 750mm (30″) wide, making this little corner of the seashore much much larger than life. Of all the varied subjects that I have hand-printed as cyanotypes over the past months, it is my seaweed ones that I love the most, that I feel a visceral, almost physical connection with. You can find a selection of my cyanotypes here and learn how I create them here.

I am self-publishing a book of my cyanotype Bonfire portraits. It will be available for sale during my Artwave exhibit and also by mail order. You can find more information here. A large selection of this new work is being shown as part of the Lewes District Artwave Festival in a joint exhibit with artist Kelly Hall. You can find us at St Anne’s House, 111 High St, Lewes, BN7 1XY, opposite Shelley’s Hotel. We will be open the 12/13 and 19/20 September, 11am-5pm. Please do come by and say hello!

Dazzled at Hope Gap

Posted on August 7, 2020August 28, 2020 by carlotta

Dazzled by Hope Gap

So, let us continue together on our cyanotype journey. After weeks and weeks stuck at home during lockdown, my family’s first joyous outing to a beach was to the aptly named Hope Gap near Seaford. It is along this Sussex coastline that the chalk hills of the South Downs hit the sea in steep dramatic cliffs.

The day was bright and still. An hour’s walk brought us to a gap in the rolling green scrubland. Opened out before us was a vista of sparkling sea, with the undulating Seven Sisters to the left and a headland rising straight out of the water to the right.

Down on the beach the tide was out and the cliffs loomed sharp and jagged, their white edges standing out against sky. I felt moved nearly to tears at the startling beauty of it all.

I had been working doggedly on my storm cyanotypes over many lockdown hours when I began to think about using the technique for other types of landscape photographs. The process is tricky and it is difficult to predict how a photograph will translate from computer screen to hand-made print.

For many photos, it doesn’t really work, but for some, the tonal qualities of cyanotype heighten the feelings I want to convey in a photograph. This mightiest of the Sisters is called Haven Brow and towers 77 meters (253 ft) above Cuckmere Haven. The cyanotype process helps to convey what I wanted here – a sense of the majesty of this cliff face.

You can find a selection of my cyanotypes here and learn how I create them here.This new work will be exhibited in September in a joint exhibit with artist Kelly Hall as part of the Lewes District Artwave Festival.

Seven Sisters summer solstice

Posted on June 23, 2017June 1, 2018 by photograph

Seven Sisters summer solstice

Happy solstice. This is Sussex in summer, a glorious time of year when daylight lasts from 4am to 10pm. The Seven Sisters, the white chalk cliffs that line the coast, turn golden with the setting sun, as here at Birling Gap.

More of my landscape photographs can be found here.

You can find a short film of my Depot photographs on youtube here. It shows a selection of 200 shots covering two years of photographing this former brewery depot as it became a state-of-the-art community cinema.

Tag: Seven Sisters