Sphacelaria plumosa
1843-1853
Imagine making a photograph without a camera—that's exactly what Victorian botanist Anna Atkins did here. She placed the delicate seaweed *Sphacelaria plumosa* directly onto light-sensitive paper and let the sun bake it, creating this ghostly white silhouette against a deep Prussian blue background. This 'sun print' technique, called cyanotype, allowed her to publish 'Photographs of British Algae' starting in 1843. This makes it not just a pretty picture, but a page from the very first book ever illustrated with photographic images!
- Technique
- Cyanotype
- Material
- Paper
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