Alternative Photography - Creating Anthotypes

What you'll learn

Experience one of photography’s most environmentally respectful and poetic techniques in this Anthotypes workshop, where plant-based emulsions and sunlight merge to create delicate, ephemeral images. This slow, meditative process invites you to work with nature, embracing patience, organic materials, and sustainable creativity.

Guided by practising visual artist Simone Darcy, you’ll learn how to extract pigments from flowers, fruits, vegetables, and leaves, transforming them into eco-friendly emulsions that serve as natural light-sensitive coatings. These handmade emulsions are brushed onto paper and exposed to sunlight, producing soft, painterly images infused with the character of the plants used.

Anthotypes sit at the intersection of photography, ecology, and traditional craftmaking. They are perfect for anyone curious about sustainable art practices, natural pigments, or the contemplative beauty of slow image-making. You’ll also create your own transparencies, allowing you to transfer drawings, patterns, graphic elements, or photographic imagery onto your hand-coated surfaces.

Once your print is fully exposed, it can be scanned to preserve the artwork and expanded into a hybrid digital–analogue piece, opening further avenues for creative interpretation.

To support your continued practice at home, Simone will provide a digital recipe booklet filled with methods, plant options, and practical tips for ongoing experimentation.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this anthotypes course, you should be able to:

Mix, store, and preserve plant-based photo emulsions
Prepare and coat papers for sunlight exposure
Create and use transparencies for image transfer
Scan and enhance finished works to produce hybrid prints
Apply sustainable methods in alternative photography

Course content

Overview of anthotypes and sustainable image-making
Extracting pigments from plants and produce
Emulsion preparation and paper coating
Sunlight exposure and development
Transparency creation for image transfer
Scanning and hybrid workflows

Course tutors

Simone Darcy

About Simone Darcy Simone Darcy is an Australian artist and educator whose practice explores experimental and historical photographic processes. Her work often combines elements of performance,...

View Simone Darcy's profile

Classes Online Courses

Alternative Photography - Creating Anthotypes

Sat 16 May 2026

1 session, 2.5 hours total

10am - 12:30pm (UTC+10:00)

2A Gordon St, Rozelle

Simone Darcy

When	Time	Where	Session Notes
Sat 16 May 2026	10am - 12:30pm	A1-1: Visual Arts - 2A Gordon St, Rozelle

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