We present results from a vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) "photoabsorption imaging" technique based on the measurement of the time and space resolved absorption of a quasimonochromatic VUV beam from a laser plasma light source. The use of VUV radiation as a probe beam permits direct access to resonance lines of (singly and more highly charged) ions and also to the resonant and nonresonant continua of atoms and ions. In this experiment we have confined ourselves to measurements using the 3p–3d resonances of Ca, Ca+, and Ca2+ as markers of the temporal and spatial distribution of ground state atoms and ions in an expanding laser plasma plume. We show how time resolved column density maps may be extracted from such images. In addition we have extracted plasma plume velocities from the data, which compare well with an analytical laser ablation model.