I decided to focus on the small for this series.  I used a photographic process called Cyanotype which requires no camera or darkroom, only a few chemicals and the sun.

 

My process started by collecting plants while staying at The Lodge on Little St. Simon’s Island.  My intention was to produce works inspired by Anna Akins, an English botanist and photographer.  She was the first person to publish a book of images recording plant specimens with the Cyanotype process, which was invented by John Herschel in 1842.  

 

Once the plants were collected I pressed them in a book.  Back home I produced a cyanotype for each.  The images were then mounted on a hard board, along with a nautical map of the area in the background.  Then I fused several layers of encaustic medium and applied India ink to frame the images.  

 

Stay tuned in 2022 for more inspired works from LSSI as I was able to captured some amazing images with my camera as well!