My Blue Lake was made by photographing Smith's body with a peripheral camera (a camera that takes a cylindrical object and makes it flat). The negatives were blown up and made into photogravures, then colored ink was added by Smith to the photogravure plate for the red hair and blue face, making each version of the print unique. The completion of this print fulfilled a personal goal that Smith had, when she first came to ULAE, which was to make a print of the skin of the body, laid out flat.