No camera required: Mattapoisett photographer teaches ancient art form
Mar 26, 2023
Harrison Camara, 8, with his cyanotype prints. Photos by: Wes Cipolla
Photographer David Walega explains the process.
Ari Uhlin proudly looks over her work.
Silhouettes of objects are burnt by sunlight onto the paper.
Walega places the prints in water to develop them.
Uhlin arranges flowers in an artistic pattern.
MATTAPOISETT — Photographer David Walega has had a turbulent career.
As a photojournalist, he traveled around the world, taking pictures of war zones and refugees.
Needing a change in his career, he decided to start taking pictures of “the complete opposite” subject matter — tranquil nature scenery.
The experimentation didn’t end there. Cyanotype, one of Walega’s favorite photographic techniques, doesn’t even need a camera.
Walega taught the 19th-century art form to children and adults at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Sunday, March 26. “Let the River Run,” an exhibition of Walega’s photographs of the Mattapoisett River Valley, is on display at the Library from now until Friday, April 14.
Cyanotype prints rely on photographic techniques known for thousands of years before the invention of the modern camera. To make a cyanotype, objects are placed on a sheet of blue paper coated with chemicals sensitive to light. The paper and objects are then covered with a sheet of glass and left in the sun. The chemicals react to the light, burning the silhouette of the objects onto the paper. The end result is an abstract work of bleeding shapes and shades.
“I like the way that there’s positive and negative shapes,” Walega said. “Depending on how transparent some of these objects are, you get all of these subtle colors. It’s a really interesting way of learning the basics of photography.
Walega’s photography students gathered flowers and leaves in the Library courtyard, then carefully arranged the onto the sheets of paper. After a few minutes in the sun, the shapes left their mark on the paper.
“I thought it was really cool,” said 8-year-old Harrison Camara, who attended the lesson with his father Jonathan.
Harrison said that it felt good to make something with his hands — and was more interesting than just taking pictures with a cell phone.
“It’s nice,” Jonathan said. “It’s good to get them involved in creating art at a young age.”
“It’s fun,” said Ari Uhlin, who made a sophisticated floral arrangement on her cyanotype. “Satisfying. Original. Organic.”
