Zygnema deciminum
1843-1853
Imagine ghostly clumps of cotton candy floating in a deep blue ocean. Anna Atkins, often credited as the first female photographer, created this mesmerizing image in the 1840s without a camera. She placed the actual algae specimen, labeled *Zygnema deciminum*, directly onto light-sensitive paper and let the sun bake the white silhouette into existence using a process called cyanotype. This piece comes from her groundbreaking publication, widely considered the first book ever illustrated with photographs, proving that scientific documentation can be incredibly poetic.
- Technique
- Cyanotype
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