That's how it was 1, 2, 3... PHOTO! in The Eagle

Three educators, characterized as a photographer and his assistants, accompanied the different groups that participated in this program. For about an hour, a trip was proposed to learn about the various techniques and people that have marked the evolution of photography and its formats, contextualizing the different stages, proposing activities and promoting interaction between participants through shared knowledge. To do this, it was sought that both adults and children interact with the spaces and pieces in an active and participatory way through dialogue, discovery and play, always having the opportunity to raise doubts, questions or reflections.

The workshop was organized thematically through the following activities and contents:

In order to know the origin of photography, the workshop began by bringing participants closer to the beginnings of the dark chamber, its different uses over time and its connection with the origin of photography. For this, a practical demonstration of its operation was carried out through a giant replica in which the group penetrated and lived in first person the experience of seeing how the first photographic images were created.

In this section of the workshop, we approach the history of the technological evolution of photography, through the knowledge of what daguerreotypes are, some of the original printing techniques such as wet collodion and albumin, stereoscopy and the appearance of color photography to the new formats offered by current digital cameras.

This journey also allowed us to get closer to essential figures in the history of photography such as Niepce, Jean Laurent and Martín Santos Yubero, among others. Likewise, this trip carried out a review of the technological heritage linked to this medium, for which we had a selection of historical cameras among which was a life-size replica of Jean Laurent's laboratory car, with which he developed his photographs in his travel in Spain.

In the third block of the workshop the participants had the possibility of creating their own cyanotypes.
In cyanotypes a chemical compound is used that reacts mainly against ultraviolet light and is fixed directly with water. This process was discovered by astronomer John Frederick William Herschel in 1842. Although who put it into practice was Anna Atkins, an English botany, considered the first woman photographer.

In this area, the importance of photography as an instrument of historical knowledge will be addressed.
Here the participants traveled yesterday and today from the city of Madrid through historical and current images that allowed us to understand the passage of time, and discover what the city was like, its people, the trades, the transports, and the cultural goods in a certain time to compare them with their current situation and thus understand the importance of the values ​​of protection and conservation of cultural heritage.

After having focused on heritage in previous spaces and activities, the workshop concluded by dwelling on people. To do this, the participants were presented with a large mural full of photographs from 1880 to the nineties of the twentieth century. It showed how photography has changed over time both in the chosen subjects and in the way in which people have been portrayed.
It included photographs that reflected a part of the reality of the time in contrast to others taken in the same period to show different contexts and thus encourage adults to share their memories with the little ones and a debate about photography as Construction of personal image.
The mural was complemented by a large photocall with three historical photographs where, as a culmination of the workshop, the participants took a photograph with an instant camera to include it, along with their cyanotype, in the photo album that was distributed to all attendees.