Taking A Closer Look: Photomicrography
Photography has been used for decades to capture the images that we see with our eyes, but, it can also help us to see things that we could never see with just the naked eye.
Photomicrographers are those who photograph the microscopic world around us. With the help of special cameras, we can now see cell nuclei or the intestines of fruit flies if we so wanted to. There are hundreds of photomicrographers in the world, each with their own unique specialization or style; like artists, they present to us their own interpretations of microscopic objects, using various techniques, such as two-photon excitation microscopy, which “provides distinct advantages for three-dimensional imaging”. This process is used for “imaging of living cells, especially within intact tissues such as brain slices, embryos, whole organs, and even entire animals”, making Dr. Paul Appleton’s pictures both studies of biological components of organisms, but also aesthetically, vibrant, geometric abstractions.
Claudia Buttera creates similar pieces, most of them cells under stress, and frames them to be placed in a gallery setting, where both the science of the subject and aesthetic of the overall piece is appreciated for as a work of art. The muse is nature, the artist Buttera.
Nikola Rahme moves slightly further away from the subjects, revealing the actual features and body parts of wasps and beetles, instead of merely the puzzle pieces of their anatomy known as cells. Works such as Rahme’s help viewers put a ‘face’ to the cluster of shapes that the aforementioned photomicrographers capture.