Walking out of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (“THE MET”) after being awed, amazed, and inspired by the Harlem Renaissance exhibit, I noticed a young man doing something interesting at the bottom of the stairs. From his activity, the distinctive blue color staining his developing trays and visible on the stacks of prints, I knew immediately he was making cyanotypes! I stopped to talk with him…

His name was Kavon and it was not his first time selling cyanotypes in front of The Met as Fifth Avenue traffic swarmed behind him. Kavon told me about his process: making cyanotype “contact prints” from his own, original 4×5″ large format (monochrome) negatives. Exposing each print takes 5-8 minutes in sunlight, after which he develops them with a chemical solution, and “fixes” the image on the paper in a water bath. I complimented him on his work, asked to take a few photographs of him doing it, and promised to post them soon.

Kavon Making Cyanotypes

Digital Cyanotypes?

No such thing. But I edited one of my iPhone shots of Kavon using the Hipstamatic app, to create a mock-faux-fake cyanotype look, just for fun! Edit progress shots are below, using the second iPhone capture to start from…

Where’s Kavon?

I planned to give Kavon the shots I took of him, and to promote his work by posting on his behalf. Sadly, since that day in front of The MET, I have searched in vain for Kavon’s contact info and social feeds. Finally, I posted the photos to a Cyanotypes group on Facebook, and was delighted to find — between all the praise and interest from group members around the globe — two people in the US had seen him in the same spot, and bought one of his cyanotypes! But nobody had (or offered) his contact info…

So, if you read this, and know where I can find Kavon — social feed or profile, email address, phone number — please let me know!

Camera: iPhone 15 ProMax
Editing: Hipstamatic iPhone App
Photographer: Russ Murray aka “remages”
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art aka “THE MET” in NYC

See you tomorrow! 

// russ murray