I was reading Tim Flannery’s book ‘Sunlight and Seaweed' and was intrigued by his concept of cultivated seaweed beds in the ocean absorbing carbon dioxide and restoring oxygen to the atmosphere, contributing to a halting/reversal in climate change.
Sunlight & Seaweed SENGA PECKHAM THIS SERIES OF LUMEN PRINTS ENTITLED TIDAL WASH WAS PROMPTED BY AN UNEXPECTED YEAR LIVING ON THE EDGE OF THE OCEAN AT INVERLOCH, GIPPSLAND. WALKING ALONG THE BEACH EACH DAY, RAIN, HAIL OR SHINE, I WAS MINDFUL OF THE DIVERSITY OF SEAWEED CARRIED AND RETURNED WITH THE TIDE AND CONSIDERED A PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT THAT MAY CAPTURE THE DETAILS AND DIVERSITY.
This poem was also in my mind.
“A sacred rhythm, like tides and Moon phases, choir of the Sun’s majestic breath: A pulse of energy we synch to, tracing paths towards hearts and minds singing in unison.” with the kind permission of Alberto L. Levorato www.levoratostudio.com
Rather than using my camera to photograph the seaweed, I chose to make Lumen prints, an alternative camera-less photographic technique, as the sole requirement for the growth of seaweed and for the creation of Lumens is sunlight.
A Lumen print is an early photographic process developed by Fox Talbot in the 1830’s in England. He called his images photogenic drawings. It is a solar photogram – an image created on photographic paper, exposed by the sun. The possibilities are endless as results vary with the length of time exposed, humidity, intensity of the sunlight, the ambient temperature and the age and type of paper. The process of making a Lumen print is very simple. The seaweed was placed onto a piece of black and white photographic paper, positioned under glass and left in the sun for several hours, sometimes for as many as 24 hours, sometimes exposed to sunlight only, sometimes moonlight only and sometimes a combination of sunlight, moonlight and starlight. The sun or moon causes the enzymes and sea salt in the seaweed to react with the silver halide salts in the photographic paper. An image altogether different to a digital capture is created. As the sun or moon moves in relation to the seaweed, intensity and depth appear in the image, seeming to encapsulate nature’s vulnerability and strength as well as form, colour and physicality, an almost magical process of transformation as the seaweed seems to be floating in the ocean, returned to the deep on the fluxing tide. A Lumen print fades and the image eventually disappears unless fixed permanently with photographic fixer. Likewise seaweed comes and goes on the tide unless removed and dried. This similarity informed my decision to capture the vibrancy of the Lumens by digital means allowing the originals to fade and disappear, like the seaweed on the tide, instead of fixing the originals using chemical means. These images are unique to the seaweed on the Inverloch beach, with the vintage paper gifted to me by Trevor Foon of Foons Photographics, Wonthaggi, and the weather conditions during my unexpected year there. Each Lumen print is a distinct and unrepeatable photographic event. My goal with this series is to inspire those who see it to look more closely and care more deeply. Words and images by Senga Peckham, photo maker Instagram @sip_foto
gippsland lifestyle summer ����/��
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