Angela has developed a unique style of photography. She has gradually created her own technique having been influenced by the work of Nineteenth Century photographer Fox Talbot and the botanist/photographer Anna Atkins. Her images are created without the use of a camera. Each image is dependent upon exposure, light source, humidity and, most importantly, the combination of the organic materials employed and the sensitised paper. When combined with contemporary chemicals the plant materials generate their own particular aura of colour. There are no negatives and so reprints cannot be made. Each image is unique. Angela is delighted to have had an ongoing relationship with the Eden Project in Cornwall. She created images of their plants and researched leaf adaptation with their team of plant scientists culminating in her major retrospective exhibition Shape Shifters. While on the site she also created life studies of Adam and Eve. Her first attempt at photograms of the human form. Angela has taken part in two tropical expeditions making photograms of critically endangered endemic plants. She was part of the team from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew led by Dr Colin Clubbe that went to work in the British Virgin Islands. This was part of the Darwin Initiative Conservation Project. Angela created photograms of the flora found on Anegada. The images were exhibited at Kew at Wakehurst Place. She went on a similar expedition to the Seychelles for the Eden Project. Images from this trip were included in the Shape Shifters exhibition and also in the Kew/Eden stand Treasured Islands at the Chelsea Flower Show. 

Angela Easterling

Natural Photograms