Analogue 11. – Process

This collection was photographed in August 2025 in the woods around Grantown on Spey. A mixture of 35mm and 120 black and white film, the chemistry used to develop the negatives was made from wind-fallen pine. Stewed into a ‘tea’ and combined with vitamin C and soda ash, this development method is not only sustainable but also embodies the subject matter into the image. 

The negatives were then enlarged and contact printed onto Japanese rice paper using the cyanotype process. This process uses UV light to create Prussian blue images. Invented by the astronomer John Herschel, it’s where the term ‘blueprint’ originates. 

The three mounted images (Pine Drift, Dreggie Fern and Sapling) are adhered to a thicker acid-free paper using a home-made rice starch glue (sokui), a natural and archival glue used since the 17^th Century in Japan. The two images, Pine Drift and Sapling, were also toned in coffee grounds from a local café. 

Each process step has many variations and can be influenced by time, light and temperature, as well as the polyphenolic content of the organic material in the developer, and the tannins in the coffee. Results are often varied and imperfect but take just a moment of light reacting with silver to a physical unique print with many interactions along the way.