for Anna Atkins

PROGRAM NOTE
for Anna Atkins was inspired by the first woman photographer, who used sunlight to capture cyanotypes of ferns and other plants as part of her research. She published Part I of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in 1843 and wrote "The difficulty of making accurate drawings of objects so minute as many of the Algae and Confervae has induced me to avail myself of Sir John Herschel’s beautiful process of Cyanotype, to obtain impressions of the plants themselves, which I have much pleasure in offering to my botanical friends.” Light painting of all kinds continues to thrive today, whether with projectors and darkness, or a long exposure and sparklers.