Anna Atkins & the World's First Photo Book - Objectivity 5

Brady joins Rupert Baker of The Royal Society to look at the world's first ever photo book - published by botanist and photographer Anna Atkins in 1843.
Follow us on Facebook at / objectivityvideos
And Twitter at / objectivity_vid
Royal Society: bit.ly/Royal_So...
Films by James Hennessy and Brady Haran

[@JimCorrigan777]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite internet series to watch. Would love if you guys could expand on this to other such places around the world. These are all things that should be appreciated but often aren't because of their rarity. These videos to me strike a chord with my inner child somehow. The feeling of discovery isn't something you find so much these days. I live in San Diego, and I've always wanted to see something like this done with their archives, because what you guys are doing is remarkable in it's own. It must be such an honor to be able to bestow upon people across the world something that few people have seen themselves. It's a part of humanity that seems to be fading away. Like nostalgia. In fact it is beautiful what you have started with this channel.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Michael Spectre thanks. It's great to know you're enjoying the channel.. Who knows where Objectivity will venture to in the future! >James

[@JesseRaylabrancaro]

Stunning! It is my mission to watch every episode on this channel. I find every one of them so fascinating and mesmerizing! Thanks for all your hard work, and I hope you continue to make these stellar videos for a long time!

[@ObjectivityVideos]

+Jesse Ray thanks Jesse - and make sure you stop people in the street and tell them to watch too! :)

[@JesseRaylabrancaro]

+Objectivity If only people listened to me. I tell my husband that I'm like Cassandra. I have all the prophecies, but am doomed to have my advice ignored! But for you, I'll continue to try :-)

[@nal8503]

+Jesse Ray We all seem to have all the prophecies while having them ignored. Sometimes the path to sharing enlightenment is a bit more roundabout and less straightforward than "hey do this" though. Good luck!

[@MattSitton]

+Jesse Ray I just finished watching all of the videos with this one :P Have been at it since yesterday haha...

[@spamboli]

did anyone notice that the only non-cyanotype is the dedication? the title page is a cyanotype with British algae arraigned to spell out "British algae". all the names appear to be made by writing on a piece of glass, and then removing it to leave the shadow of the writing. very clever!

[@Sakanakao]

I love how the title page seems to have been made out of algae too at 1:20

[@gamernick1533]

It's damned near criminal that this channel only has 184k subs right now. All of the places and items you are able to show off and how well presented it all is. You should (if you haven't already) try and get some direct collabs with other KZbinrs and get them to showcase this channel, I'm sure that most of the guests are fans and it will help them too. I practically live on KZbin, it is 95%+ of my media consumption and yet I only 'found' the channel yesterday despite most of my viewing being with people you have worked with on this channel, history, science, Royal Society channels etc.

[@VictorChavesVVBC]

Funny how back then it was common to do stuff "just to share with close friends", and eventually these stuff became so valuable.

[@zenzylok]

Lovely piece of human history.

[@LordOfDays]

I haven't seen anyone comment on this, but I think the is remarkable because we photographs like this when i was in middle school. And we used plants as well. To be completely honest it didn't mean anything at the time. I don't know if is the same chemical process but the end result was white with the same blue background.

[@eerbrev]

gorgeous.

[@roidroid]

It gives surprisingly great results, for such an old technique. It certainly has some advantages over manually illustrating the specimen. This is a sort of proto-photography yes, because at this stage proper photographs did not yet exist?

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

Proper photographs were invented in 1839, so a little before this process.

[@willhouse]

Early photo techniques are often quite lovely to behold. Stable prints from this era are truly rare, too, so I cherish the times when I happen to see an original on display.

[@AllJustOnesandZeros1010]

Keith is the best. These videos are just amazing!

[@BillySugger1965]

This is a delightful series Brady :-)

[@chinchu1708]

great video again!

[@rebeccajean9634]

Oh wow!!!

[@roidkaro]

Really cool video, as usual =)

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Kevin Burri cheers :)

[@matthewmontgomery3693]

Google's doodle today is Anna Atkins!

[@RBuckminsterFuller]

Beautiful! I wonder how difficult it would be to do something like this at home.

[@abyssaljam441]

The chemicals ( Potassium ferricyanide and Ammonium ferric citrate) arn't very toxic the latter is a food addative, however the first one can produce a toxic gass if reacted with a strong acid. I don't know were you would get them thouge. The rest of the proces wouldent be to difficult to do.

[@kindlessthing]

Easy enough, buy yourself the chemical, brush it onto paper, let it dry. www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=313645&Q=&is=REG&A=details there are hundreds of guides online and on youtube.

[@benb3112]

You can get Cyannotype paper, probably from any craft store, almost certainly amazon

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

Easy, I have done it often, with our children who collected plants to include. It is great fun to do.

[@unvergebeneid]

So wait, for every copy of the book she had to redo everything? That's so 14th century!

[@Major3ammoul]

38th viewer and subject of HI mystery

[@sjcwoor]

This is similar to something I've messed around with in the past called a Photogram.

[@unvergebeneid]

Hey, you practically have your own Google Doodle today :)

[@farpointgamingdirect]

Is this the predecessor to blue prints?

[@RinoaL]

the color scheme of these images makes them look like blueprints of aquatic life.

[@abyssaljam441]

It done with a very simalar tequnic to blue printing, exsept blue prints use a desing drawn on tracing papar in place of the sea weed.

[@BruceWayneReal]

rinoa you obviously don't know what a cyanotype is.

[@zachweisberg5277]

Bruce Wayne Life isn't about knowing everything, but it's good to engage with things that make one curious.

[@BruceWayneReal]

in my work life is about knowing everything.

[@zachweisberg5277]

Presumably your work life doesn't consist of KZbin comments, so I would just let it be

[@MexieMex]

Bit confused about the gloves, Brady wore gloves and barely touched the book (if he did at all), Rupert didn't wear gloves and was all over the book ;^/

[@NabeelFarooqui]

Its more about the symbol. He wears them in all videos.

[@rangedfighter]

Well, as said in other videos, the gloves are more important for metal or wooden pieces, because fat and sweat from the fingers can easily interact with the surface and bring corrosion maybe he does not know what he will see either and thus brings them just in case

[@gdibble]

apparently rupert is [really] a robot so the grease/gloves are irrelevant. ;)

[@Finsirith]

I noticed that--the curator handled all those pages with his bare hands. On the other hand, Brady's gloves wouldn't have done much good, after he touched the dusty shelves and his oily face...

[@Allofusien]

***** They mention in another video that the royal society feels the risk of sweat and natural body oils damaging the books is less than the risk of ripping the books because of increased clumsiness when wearing gloves.

[@ABitOfTheUniverse]

1:44 ... 1:58 !? Brady, what is the point of putting the gloves on if you're going to stick your hands up to your mouth and get your nose grease on them?

[@moertelruehrer]

www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/google-doodle-wissen-anna-atkins-und-das-erste-foto-buch-der-welt-1.2395342 your video made it into a german newspaper in reference to the doodle of today ;)

[@ObjectivityVideos]

infiniteWays that's great to know! Thanks :)

[@efrenortiz179]

Q poca madre no lo puedo creer

[@FamilyApproved]

Oh my God!!! This episode makes me so happy

[@Wander4P]

Today (March 16) is Anna Aktins' 216th birthday! I saw the Google doodle and immediately thought of this video.

[@renanazevedo]

My wife works as a paper restorer in a museum and almost had a cadio attack when she saw Rupert whitout gloves and manipulating the book. According to her, Paper Conservation 101: YOU ALWAYS USE GLOVES TO MANIPULATE PAPER! Sweat and grease will kill paper and the document, independently if you have washed the hands or not: Always wear gloves, please!

[@RedStefan]

Brady, how many channels do you have? Man you must be workaholic or something.

[@jdgrahamo]

I would like to know how she did the writing underneath -- presumably on a glass slide or similar? Anyone know?

[@PvPigCreations]

what a great place youtube is. seeing all those places that you will never go..

[@ignaciot]

How is the image stabilized afterwards? I mean, how it doesn't turn all blue after you take the algae away?

[@Scribblersys]

You turn the light off first.

[@kindlessthing]

You run it under water which washes away the chemicals that are light sensitive.

[@yousorooo]

Kindless things That's paper...

[@kindlessthing]

Derek Leung yes, you run the chemical coated paper under water to wash away the chemical. What's already been exposed stays on the paper.

[@JohanYlinenjarvi]

it was mentioned in the video that she made three copies for friends and family, these copies cant really have been identical can they? She made the same book tree times essentially?

[@elizabethhogan1610]

"She's covering her bottom." #truebrit

[@iagocasabiellgonzalez7807]

More than 150 years ahead of her time. Minimalistic, great composition. Awesome.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Iago Casabiell González yes it would make a great modern coffee table book!

[@iagocasabiellgonzalez7807]

Great channel Brady! Keep showing us these awesome trinckets ; )

[@gabrysgabriukas]

Nice! but both of them should were gloves.

[@vishakraman5117]

Deep Sky Videos, Sixty Symbols and now Objectivity - I've learned so much from Brady's videos. Science is a wonderful thing. As a biologist, this video made me almost tearfully happy. Such intricate detail.

[@maestro7727]

I wonder how she made copies of this book. Did she take each image a few times, or are the photographs in each book unique?

[@willhouse]

Each image is a unique contact print. It would have been possible to make identical copies by placing the algae between two glass plates and then exposing each paper sheet, but such an elevated-specimen technique would result in less contrast and edge clarity.

[@adraedin]

3:46 *Brady leans onto old books*

[@albertoreta2814]

Just an observation. John Herschel was not the Herschel who discovered Uranus. Actually, was his father, William, who did it in 1781. John was 9 years old at that time.

[@antivanti]

These would make really nice prints for framing and hanging on your wall. In light of recent library fires I hope these have been digitized for posterity. Oh my... I just realized I accidentally a really horrible pun there. Sorry for that. =/

[@LysolPionex]

There's one pronounciation difference I didn't know: al-jee (us) vs al-ghee (uk). It's interesting :)

[@franzluggin398]

What are you talking about, Brady? "It's not what you're thinking." Of course British Algae is the first topic that comes to mind if you think of books with photographs as illustrations!

[@MrAwawe]

This is the same process that blueprints used to be copied (hence the name). I didn't know it was used for anything else, it's really cool to see.

[@djguydan]

hmmmm, I don't see a link to the original creator. Seems a bit "Freeboot-ie" to Brady!! :P

[@TheCrewExpendable]

Brady was popularizing this before Google jumped on the band wagon!

[@SpiderGirl42]

According to Google, today is her 216th birthday! I had to watch this again to celebrate :)

[@ling9731]

Who came here from Vox? :D Was happy to see Objectivity recommended by Vox.

[@chris2goo]

What's the deal with the gloves? Is Brady a Patomime or a B-boy, who wants to breakdance everywhere he goes?

[@Leophred]

This is really interesting. Thank you

[@SaiKeerthanaisAwesome]

This channel is super interesting. I just hope that in the future you dont drag out just one thing in your videos, it will kind of get boring. Just a bit of advice :D

[@gephc4]

The next time Brady visits Chicago, I expect some crossover episodes with ***** .

[@amaraojiji]

You should add a bit more about technique with animation (like computerfile).

[@AlternativePhotography]

What a treasure you have! I love Anna Atkins work.

[@KarstenOkk]

I'm almost cringing, stop almost touching it Brady!!!

[@MagnesiumSodium]

So the photographic process of these images is basically silhouetting the seaweed?

[@098765Spencer]

Brady seemed disappointed that the book had been used that day, almost as though he felt that now what he was doing wasn't that special.

[@timothyschelz]

I love your silly gloves! Could you upload a video of you just doing jazz hands?

[@XPimKossibleX]

come on you can't name your son Rupert baker and not expect him to work at the Royal Society

[@hokeypokeypo]

Note: Archivist need to wear acid free, lint free gloves EVERY TIME they touch historic paper products !!!! UNBELIEVABLE

[@ragnkja]

No, clean, bare hands are usually better because gloves reduce dexterity.

[@nikolausluhrs]

So fitting that brady is wearing a blue denim shirt for this

[@osmanika8741]

I love this channel so much!

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Osman Kazdal thanks - so do we... do share any videos you especially like so we can keep it going...

[@scheerBOM]

Is that the awkward silence because keith isnt in this video?

[@EMAN00619]

How does it smell? Old books have great smells.

[@RayDrouillard]

The cyanotype process is most famous for its use in reproducing technical drawings -- hence the term 'blueprint.' A quick google of "cyanotype" produced quite a number of Anna's images.

[@ALTJR]

why the man with no gloves touch the book

[@Hypatia4242]

Was the blue a necessary blue for the process? It's very Josiah Wedgwood.

[@evilgeniusha01]

+Hypatia4242 It was in a way. Blue was basically the only color it could do.

[@jadasmiles]

came here from the google doodle. When I saw Atkins I thought it was the person who started the all meat diet fad, but this lady is much cooler. Those photos (or sunprints, what ever rocks your boat) are beautiful!

[@natepetersen1508]

wow that's a beautiful color!

[@abelincoln7473]

Correct me if I am in error, but if those are contact prints made by direct exposure wouldn't it be mor appropriate to classify the images as Photograms?

[@mynona1425]

+Abe Lincoln That's correct. These are not photographs. These are photograms.

[@abelincoln7473]

It is only a photogram if there is physical contact between the object being imaged and the film, plate or paper.

[@Fiyaaaahh]

Brady how come you are wearing gloves whilst the guy who is actually touching the book is not?

[@ssglitchers]

I think the gloves are supposed to be like the symbol for these videos sort of how the brown paper is the symbol for numberphile I think they may have mentioned this on their podcasts also.

[@codywilliams5029]

Really cool video, Brady. I created a few cyanotypes when I was in school. It's quite a fun photographic process. It would be awesome to see more videos on items from historic photographic processes.

[@PinkChucky15]

Those are so pretty and detailed.

[@Camroc37]

Keith... Where are you Keith...

[@girliedog]

not photographs but photograms

[@ragnkja]

1:23 The title page itself is pretty clever, and much better done than a lot of similar effects done these days, because of the simpler colour scheme.

[@elizabethpecoraro8518]

Who else is here from vox?

[@pmfa91]

I'm interested in using the same technique. Anyone knows how? :)

[@shenyin9989]

Man, gloves!

[@1theo0]

Oh, I love this series! And Brady asks just the questions I'd ask, that's great.

[@R4ndomNMBRS]

Man this is a great channel! Thanks for making it and bringing it up on Hello Internet.

[@HannaAnderberg]

It's only been 5 episodes but I adore this channel! Keep it up my dear Brady!

[@athu25897]

This one was awesome! Can other people also go into the vault and check these out?

[@kevinpfeiffer8034]

Love this channel, Brady. Can't wait for more.

[@michaelwhinnery164]

thanks mate

[@guycomments]

Very nice.

[@bullsquid42]

Beautiful

[@kaigegao3576]

I love it

[@joebean2949]

I miss Keith.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Joe Bean Keith will return!

[@AlexDainisPhD]

I am exceptionally jealous of this video. I would love to see some of her work in person, and even reproduction books are out of my price range! Very, very cool. Thank you for sharing!

[@Olhado256]

"It's not what you think". So I'm not the only person who thought that the first photo book must have been porn?

[@HenriekeIStrecker]

These are not photographs. These are PHOTOGRAMs, made without a camera.