Photograms are traditionally created in a darkroom, with the photographic paper run through the chemicals to produce a black and white image (when using black & white paper).

This time, however, the students experimented with taking photographic paper outside and exposing it to natural light. Rather than finding objects to place onto the paper,  they would bring the paper to the natural world and place it behind or underneath anything they found interesting. The paper would remain outside for anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour, slowly changing colour (usually a pale magenta), apart from the areas which were covered.

The paper would then be scanned, so that the image could be preserved. Placing the original paper into the Fix chemical would also preserve the image, however it would lose a little of its intensity.

Opening the images in Photoshop allowed the students to develop their newly-acquired Photoshopping skills in order to bring more out of their images and experiment with tone and colour. The final images became quite abstract, but due to using natural elements as their source, they are also quite real. Here is a selection for you to enjoy.