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The Long Reach Of Photography:
From The Edge Of The Universe To Subatomic Particles
Amazing photographs that reveal the unseen

From a shot of thousands of galaxies at the edge of the universe to trails of subatomic particles that make up matter, photography has recorded it all. No other medium has this power.

This gallery goes from the unimaginably large to the infinitesimally small. The photos are in order, from large to small.

The modern world would not exist without photography and the modern world could not continue to exist without photography. The reach of the camera now extends from the tiniest particles taken during a few nanoseconds exposure (billionths of a second) to powerful spaced based cameras mounted onto telescopes that can take a rock steady million second exposure of 10,000 galaxies over 10 billion light years away. And, I might add, everything in between.

In addition the number of photographic and closely related techniques keeps expanding: from electron microscopes to x-rays to radar imaging to infrared and thermal imaging to a range of satellite systems plus composite photos, simulated coloring and false coloring and a variety of lighting for microscopic photography. Plus this list keeps growing.

And while photography can be manipulated, for the most part we see an unfiltered reality. The deep space shot of galaxies -- each with a 100 billion stars -- are real. The tracks of subatomic particles that went smashing into each other are real. Photography has revealed a world we could not have seen otherwise. It has become our eyes that can see the unseen.

This gallery was inspired by the animated movie Powers of Ten made in 1968 by Ray and Charles Eames which you can view on the Internet. My gallery here displays actual photos -- most of which did not exist in 1968. Some of these even go beyond what Eames imagined. The first shot, for example, is about 10 billion light years away from Earth -- while Eames' movie stoped at a mere 100 million :) light years from Earth. The Hubble telescope saw 100 times further than even Eames could envision. Also look at the Cern site which explores the same idea.

But why am I, a photographer primarily interested in the art of photography, posting such a gallery? I believe that artists can learn a lot as well as be inspired by science. I have never understood the division between the two. The first abstract photographs that moved me deeply were of galaxies and of microscopic patterns.

NOTE: Using public domain photos available on the Internet, I was only able to display a progression from large to small, but each step is not necessarily a power of ten.

All work not credited is copyright by Richard (Rick) deGaris Doble 2011.

NOTE:See a list of my other articles here at PIXIQ. www.pixiq.com/contributors/rick-doble

For more about my approach to photography see my book: Experimental Digital Photography.

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