Seaweed like ribbons, jellyfish like jewels

i-6b3b3905e98ed6d48dcebbaf0267d22c-sp31.jpg
Seaweed Picture No. 31
Alyson Denny

Photographer Alyson Denny's closeups of seaweed and jellyfish couldn't be less like your usual natural science documentation. Often, very little of her subject is in focus; she's more concerned with how the forms and colors blur and overlap as the field recedes. From a distance, her photographs are dazzling abstractions; the jellyfish photos are reminiscent of jewel-encrusted sets for high-end, artsy diamond ads. But when you realize what the subjects are, you also realize that her photos are just what you'd see if, like a child, you were lying on the beach with one eye up to a tangle of flotsam, imagining a world in miniature. Charming, strange and beautiful.

i-66f0f847c58940a99a3f7a3ad20cb4a5-jp23.jpg
Jellyfish Picture No. 23

See more of Alyson Denny's work at her website. She has also recently shown at Alan Klotz Gallery in NYC.

More like this

... in the Twin Cities.
“The line that describes the beautiful is elliptical. It has simplicity and constant change. It cannot be described by a compass, and it changes direction at every one of its points.” -Rudolf Arnheim
It's been a few days. I was out in West Virginia last weekend watching my cousin get married. After driving back Monday, I started the new job with Linden Labs, and that has been occupying most of my focus.

You can't prove those pictures aren't of really huge shit photographed to look small. If you don't include rulers in all the photographs you publish on this blog, you need to close your blog.

These are really beautiful...I also liked your previous blog about sci illustrations. I tend to have a slight, very slight fascination with bats, so I was particularly intrigued with that bit of art work.

By Mike Olson (not verified) on 04 Feb 2010 #permalink