It can take up to 150 attempts to capture one of these glowing, alien plant images — not to mention the risk of accidental electrocution with 80,000 volts. But look at the results! Beautiful. Fearless, patient San Francisco artist Robert Buelteman worked on his recent project at a biological preserve at Stanford. All of the images were created without a camera or computer wizardry. As Design Boom explains, Buelteman slices and shaves down his plant specimens until they’re as transparent as they can be without disintegrating. Then, the flowers are placed into a DIY contraption of metal sheets, diffusion screens, plexiglas, and liquid silicone. And then… ZAP!!! They’re electrocuted. Their electrons jump into the metal, imprinting an image which is then color-painted with a tiny, tiny optical fiber white-light. See the unbelievable results in the slideshow and in his book, Signs of Life. And do not try this at home. Seriously. … Read More

Behold! These are real flowers with their petals broken into shards, their stems fractured repeatedly, and their leaves cracked into bits. How? Photographer Jon Shireman soaked a variety of flowers in a bath of liquid nitrogen until the soft, living things became petrified solid, rigid and fragile. Using his own spring-loaded contraption, Shireman smashed the frozen flowers on a white surface, snapping the results at high speed. These are just some of the meticulous photo studies that were yielded from the strange experiment dubbed Broken Flowers and spotted by PetaPixel. Check them out! … Read More