A note from the filmmakers:
Sir John Hershcel was both an accomplished inventor and intriguing historic figure. As Mark Osterman asserts, “He’s the person who could have invented photography if he’d been bothered to”. It was Herschel who advised Talbot on how to ‘fix’ his images permanently. Herschel’s cyanotype process was unique in that it was a non-silver-based process and contains both the qualities of a Printing Out process as well as a Developing Out process. One of the highlights of the entire series is demonstrating how a cyanotype print comes to life in a bath of plain old water. Unlike other processes, the cyanotype process found new life through amateur photographic printing and architectural implementation well into the 21st century.