Born in San Diego in 1884, Roland Schneider’s family moved to Switzerland in 1887. He later returned to San Diego in 1919 after graduating from the University of Zurich with a law degree. He owned and operated the Hotel Schneider on 8th Street and became an award winning amateur photographer.

In Beach Scene (Children in Surf), Schneider uses the cyanotype process to portray children playing on the beach. One child plays with a beach ball while the others play in the surf. This image is representative of his photographs from the 1920s and early 1930s, which capture the people and daily life of San Diego.

Cyanotypes are photographs that are typically produced without a camera. They are also referred to as photograms or sunprints. The process was created in the first half of the 1800s and was used by photographers in a variety of ways including to record botanical specimens. Objects are placed on top of a piece of light-sensitive paper. When exposed to light, the areas covered by the objects are unexposed and remain light in color while the areas around the objects are exposed to the light and darken in color. The paper is then developed and fixed. Later, photographers learned to produce a more detailed image such as this beach scene by first creating a negative in a camera. The negative is then contact printed with a chemically treated paper and exposed to light. The image from the negative transfers onto the treated paper to create a positive photograph. Cyanotypes refer specifically to photograms that are produced on paper treated with chemicals that produces a brilliant blue (“cyan”) color when exposed and washed.


(For Grades K-3)

What is going on in this picture?

What are the children doing?

Where do you think they are?


(For Grades 4-6)

Do you think this is a photograph? Why or why not?

How does it differ from photographs you have seen?

Why do you think the photographer decided to use this technique?