Landscapes Unseen

This series of photomicrographs, called Landscapes Unseen,  presents images too small to see with the unaided eye. To produce these images, ordinary household substances that you might find in your medicine cabinet, kitchen, or garden shed are dissolved in water and smeared on a microscope slide.

Landscapes Unseen encompasses several collections, three of which are finished and ready to show to you—Zen Garden, Mountains & Deserts, and Belua Mirabilis. We hope you enjoy these scenes from the microscopic world. Once dried, the slides are photographed with a digital camera attached to a laboratory microscope. Much of the color comes from polarized light provided by circular polarizing filters immediately below and above the sample. The resulting images are simplified, sharpened, and refined.

Such photomicrography requires selectivity and tons of patience. A careful survey of a few dozen slides may yield only a single, small scene with possibilities. The process is time-consuming and eye-straining, but ultimately fascinating. Even the most prosaic objects and substances offer beauty when looked at closely, very closely.

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