movie category

Odile Bernard Schröder
The Cyanotype

  • France
  • fr
  • en
  • 11'
The Cyanotype by Odile Bernard Schröder

Synopsis

One day in 1995, photographer Odile Bernard Schröder decided to leave her camera in the cupboard and instead devote herself exclusively to her research, exploring the vast world of alternative photographic processes. In this third and final part of our meeting, she shares with us her vision and her practical experience of the cyanotype, one of the oldest photographic processes, which has very much come back into fashion in recent years.

What you will find in this film

A technique adopted by an artist • Daylight cyanotype • Camera-less photography • Experiments with light

Documentaries about photography, and about the people who make it. 
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What you’ll find

Portraits of photographers, names everyone knows and others you’ll discover here. Films about street photography, war, fashion or portraiture, about printing and historical processes. About the trades of photography too. And then suggestions for going further, with Focuses, articles, interviews, bibliographies.

A small independent team

Documentaries about photography were rarely shown on television, and hardly at all on streaming platforms. We created The Darkroom Rumour to give them a place of their own. We are a small team, and we choose every film ourselves, with no school to defend.

Inspire your photography

In these films, you see photographers at work, in the field as well as in the darkroom. If you take pictures, you’ll often come away with an idea to try. If you simply like looking at images, you may start to see them differently.

How it works 

You can watch the films online, anywhere in the world, on a computer, tablet or phone, and on TV by mirroring your phone’s or computer’s screen. Every film is available in French and English, with no ads. New releases come out on Saturday or Sunday. The trial lasts 7 days, and if you stop before day 8, you pay nothing.

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Further exploration

Selected bibliography

• Christina Z Anderson, Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice, Focal Press, 2019. Publisher · Libraries

• Peter Mrhar, Cyanotype: Historical and Alternative Photography, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. Libraries

• Brenton Hamilton, A Blue Idyll. Cyanotypes and Dreams, Schilt Publishing, 2020.

Online

• Introduction to the cyanotype process, blog, National Science and Media Museum.

• Cyanotype: the classic process, AlternativePhotography.com.

• Cyanotype et virage, Carlos Barrantes (in French).

• À la découverte du cyanotype, La photo argentique, 2015 (in French).