Shadows, Light and Color

Plants need light to grow and we need light to create photographs with plants. All without a camera! How does this work, and what stories can we tell through it? Let’s find out together.

Our focus is on nature, but experimenting with other materials is welcome, too. In the darkroom, we start by placing leaves, flowers, twigs, feathers, cut-out shapes, or everyday objects directly onto photographic paper and expose them to light. Like magic, the developing process reveals what was previously hidden: shades of black and white emerge, composing images of light and shadow. Along the way, we explore the unique qualities of each material. Then, we immerse our photograms in a tea bath, giving each one a distinctive tint. Every photogram becomes a one-of-a-kind original.

Afterwards, the created photograms invite further experimentation — through collage, drawing, or other creative darkroom techniques. Let yourself be surprised!
 

Sandra Haselsteiner studied Fine Arts and Audiovisual Media at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the University of the Arts Utrecht. She works as a freelance artist and illustrator in Berlin. Her drawings and collages have been published in Die Zeit, Tagesspiegel, Hanser Berlin, dtv, as well as in the magazines Stiftungswelt, Chrismon, Das Magazin, and Emotion. Her works are also regularly featured in exhibitions. The theme of her artistic practice revolves around the patterns of our perception, shaped by experiences that influence both ourselves and our relationship with the environment.

Juliane Lindner learned analog photography in the 1990s at the Free University of Berlin. After working for several years in travel photography, she studied communication design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, specializing in photography and visual language. Her focus was particularly on the choreography of image series and the photobook as a means of expression. She combines photographic craftsmanship with narrative visual art, where sensitive observation and the discovery of forms play a fundamental role.