By Amelia Wonder
Modern photography is done almost entirely in the digital realm. Pixels on our cameras turn into pixels on Instagram. But in Ms. Walter’s Honors Photo III class, they’re not just going back to photos on paper, but photos on the thing that paper comes from…plants!
Indeed, her class has embraced a truly organic approach to photography, exploring chlorophyll printing.
Chlorophyll printing is a unique process. Ms. Walter said that they don’t need to mix chemicals or use silver nitrate. Instead, the secret to making that actual image is actually the chlorophyll in the leaves.
For the photos, students are recreating photos of themselves as young children on the leaves. “This is kind of a sentimental piece to some degree because it is a reflection of who they are and it is transitional as they will soon go to college, embarking on their next chapter in life,” she said.
When choosing a leaf for chlorophyll printing, you must choose one that is green, making this a seasonal project. If your leaf starts to wilt within 10 minutes, it is a sign that the process isn’t going to work, so it is important to pick a “sturdy leaf.” Size is also an important factor, as it must be able to fit under the glass it is pressed with. It is then placed under sunlight to create the photo.
Other than those requirements, students can choose any leaf that they are drawn to. Ranging from a Pink Wood Sorrel requiring long exposure time, with a UV between 6 and 8, to Ivy, with high contrast and mid decent tones, to a Money Tree, whose exposed portions turn white/transparent, and so many more.
Senior Zara Hebb is one of Ms. Walter’s students who took part in this project. When picking her photo, she specifically chose one that would scale right and at the same time was funny, given her “two front baby teeth are showing.” After picking a photo, she was tasked with finding the right leaf. “When we watched a video in class, it instructed us not to choose shiny leaves because they won’t work,” she told me.
The entire process of picking a photo, making it black and white on Lightroom, putting it in Photoshop and turning it positive, printing it on transparent paper, filling a vial with water, and sticking the photo out in the sun is extremely time-consuming and comes with challenges, but creates a beautiful picture in the end.
Zara told me she is “currently re-printing” to receive a better result. She explained that leaves are very fragile, “because essentially all of the life is being sucked out of them when chlorophyll printing.”
She thought the project was very cool. “I never knew that you could print photos on leaves,” she said, creating a “living canvas.”
Ms. Walter’s own interest in photography began as early as 5th grade. Spending time at summer camp compelled her “to capture images because it was as if taking photographs captured a sense of memory.”
It wasn’t until college, though, that she decided to produce fine art photography. She holds a Master’s degree in photography from the University of Utah, and she has been teaching photography for 30 years, specifically at Lovett for 20 years, so she really is a true expert in her craft.
I asked if she could break down the classes offered here at Lovett, in terms of curriculum, rigor, and skillset.
“We have Photo 1, which is really an introduction to photography, covering the history of photography, and starts with working fully analog,” she said. This means using chemical processes on film, rather than using a digital camera. “Photo 1 is to really get a foundation for black and white film, colored film, and Polaroid film,” she stated.
Second-level photo is essentially “an extension of Photo I”. In this class, students learn alternative, historic, digital, and more advanced darkroom techniques.
If a student is truly passionate about photography, they can take Honors Photo III. This class is primarily for seniors who are building a portfolio, perhaps as a hobby or potentially for their future career. “Now that they have studied all of these processes, students get to make a decision on what they like aesthetically and work on a body of work around their choice of subject matter as well as choice of process,” she said.
Ms. Walter recommends photography to any student, especially “if you are someone who likes hands-on learning, has a sense of curiosity, and appreciates a class that merges art and science.” The classes are highly interactive.
While few of us will be using leaves to make photos, Ms. Walter noted that “photography is something that everyone utilizes. It doesn’t matter if you study it or not. Everyone is a photographer.”
At the same time, she has watched students come into her class for the first time with the thought that they know everything about photography because it is such a common practice, whether that be with smartphones or digital cameras. They are shocked when they learn about its history and how “it wasn’t always an art form, rather an alchemy.”
It is a completely new experience for those in Photo I to learn how to create an image by hand. One thing she asks her students to do early on is find the oldest photograph in their family and identify who is in it, why it is important, etc.
Living in the digital age we do today, Ms. Walter, like many, questions how photographs will be kept for the generations to come, considering that keepsakes like photo albums are declining, and how we can keep the art of true photography alive.
Whether we are sharing photos online or printing them on a leaf from a backyard tree.
