Mr.Albert, Star Wars Day guests, May 2026
SUMMARY
This series of prints was created collaboratively by guests at the Fresno Discovery Center’s Cyanotype Booth during their May the 2nd Star Wars event.
At the booth, participants learned about cyanotype printing — a historical, cameraless photographic printing process. This technique involves coating paper with a light-sensitive solution made from ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Once prepared, an object or image is placed on the paper and exposed to UV light, followed by a bath and drying to reveal the final print.
In this activity, guests used digital negatives on film, taken from stills out of the Star Wars film franchise, as their subjects. They then exposed them to direct sunlight for a short period of time. After exposure, the objects were removed, and the prints were rinsed in water to wash away the unreacted chemicals and fix the image. Areas exposed to more sunlight turn a rich blue, while shaded sections remain white — resulting in striking silhouette-like images known as photograms.
Cyanotype is a process that dates back to 1842, starting as a way to produce blueprints, then used a year later to capture details in botanicals. By educating our guests on this process, we keep alive a historical revelation in photo technology.
