Modern Life: What is nature scanography? Cynthia Sharp
nature scanography?
Nature scanography, or scanner photography, is the process of, in my case, laying fresh flowers, foliage, nuts or mushrooms onto a scanner covered with a box. In this way you can create digitised images which eventually become beautiful photographic prints.
Searching for a creative and rewarding project during lockdown, I began experimenting with scanography after being given a birthday card of scanned flowers by my painter brother who added, encouragingly, ‘You could do this!'
Having researched this new idea, I tracked down the required flatbed scanner on ebay and, on a whim, took a deep breath and clicked the Buy button.
I set it up in a small space in my sitting room, next to my laptop. Living in Lyme Regis, a beautiful seaside town close to a river and hills, I began collecting hedgerow plants and flowers on my permitted daily walk. Kind friends, whom I was eventually permitted to meet outside, allowed me to roam their
gardens, woods, orchards and fields, where I gathered posies and leaves, carefully carrying them home in a box lined with damp paper.
They were then quickly placed on the scanner so I could capture them digitally, ready for printing. This would often take as long as three or four hours, until I was happy with the composition, angle and light of the many different flowers and plants, while others awaited their turn in the fridge.
One morning, a local company, who grow and forage different species of mushrooms, brought me a basketful of ivory- and coral-coloured fungi which scanned beautifully, resulting in some of the most magical prints so far.
Six months after my first tentative efforts, and having bought excellent face masks on the Etsy independent shopping website, I had a lightbulb moment. On Etsy, I started selling my own unframed A4 prints of ten of my scanned images.
Negotiating the Etsy website technology while I was setting up my shop was a bit of a challenge, but seeing my images and being able to point family and friends to my shop has been a great thrill and a source of pride. I now have over 500 different images. My relaxed, casual walks now have an intensity and purpose about them. I find I am viewing the countryside with even more enjoyment and a sharper eye to this curled honeysuckle tendril or that new-born leaf.