Hannah Margolis

My Inspiration

Ansel Adams was right to observe that the closer we use a camera to look at nature, the more perfect its revelation.  Cyanotype printing, a primitive form of photography, allows me to take this close look, often without the need for a camera at all. It focuses my attention on nature’s divine details and the pared down, yet vibrant, color palette of blue hues that highlight nature’s exquisite patterns and underlying structures. When I can capture the beauty of nature, always in flux, into a still image, unadulterated and true, it kindles a sense of power.  I’m an honorable thief, stealing a small piece of magic for my own acts of creation.  Radical awe enfolds me both as I work and as I witness the results.  I guy invest my days looking for magic to capture because the only thing better than experiencing radical awe myself, is amplifying it by sharing it.  

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My cyanotypes are pieces of the many types of magic I’ve collected this year.  The images are borrowed from nature directly or from negatives made from pictures taken on my phone. Some of are are specimens from my father’s garden, others are from the gardens of strangers in Italy.  Some are of people creating magic in other ways– like a father playing with his children, and a man throwing stones at the water, hoping they don’t sink.