SEA EYES

  

From top to bottom:

1. Parrotfish. Via.
2. Mandarinfish. Credit: Luc Viatour via Wikimedia Commons. 
3. Mantis shrimp. Credit: Nazir Amin via Wikimedia Commons. 
4. Triggerfish. Via. 
5. Yellow stingray. Credit: Keri Wilk.
6. Squid. Credit: wildxplorer at Wikimedia Commons.
7. Saltwater crocodile. Credit: Vassil via Wikimedia Commons. 
8. Spotted trunkfish. Credit: Laszlo Ilyes via Wikimedia Commons. 
9. Sea turtle. Credit: Benja Iglesis. 
10. Chambered nautilus. Credit: Hans Hillewaert at Wikimedia Commons.
11. Whitetip reef shark. Credit: Christian Loader.
12. Scallop (multiple eyes). Via.
13. Napoleon wrasse. Via. 
14. Sea lion. Via.
15. Penguin. Via.
16. Tiger shark. Via.
17. Minke whale. Credit: Bryant Austin.
18. Aerial of North Mali Atoll, Maldives. Via.

ANNA ATKINS' OCEAN FLOWERS

These beautiful cyanotypes of marine algae, or seaweed, are remarkable for two reasons. They're from the first book ever produced entirely by photographic means. And they're the first photographic works ever made by a woman. 

British botanist and photographer, Anna Atkins' (1799-1871), created Photographs of British Algae—a landmark in photography and publishing—in 12 parts between 1843 and 1853. These come to us now thanks to the New York Public Library, owner of the most complete of only 13 known copies of Atkins' book, scanned and posted online in their Digital Gallery:

"The difficulty of making accurate drawings of objects as minute as many of the Algae and Confera, has induced me to avail myself of Sir John Herschel's beautiful process of Cyanotype, to obtain impressions of the plants themselves," explained Anna Atkins in October 1843.

Through her father, scientist John George Children (1777-1852) whose Royal Society circle included William Herschel and William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), Atkins was aware of the group's experiments with photography. Talbot's "photogenic drawing" technique involved placing a flat object against a light-sensitized sheet of paper (sometimes pressed beneath a sheet of glass to prevent movement and ensure a sharp image) and exposing it to sunlight until the area around the object began to darken. Herschel devised a chemical method to halt the darkening and "fix" Talbot's silver-salt image—the basis for all photography until the digital era.

Hershel experimented with other light-sensitive metal compounds in addition to silver, and in 1842 discovered that colorless, water-soluble iron salts, when exposed to sunlight, form the compound known as Prussian Blue; unexposed areas remain unaffected and the salt rinses away in plain water, leaving a blue 'negative' image.

Atkins used Talbot's "photogenic drawing" method, arranging her specimens on sheets of glass for easier handling for repeat exposures, and adopted Herschel's blueprinting process, to generate the multiple copies of specimen plates comprising Photographs of British Algae.

I've posted only a handful of the 200-plus images Anna Atkins produced. You can browse the NYPL site to see them all.

Anna Atkins at 62 years of age in 1861.

SUNDAY POETRY: "THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE"

The photograph is by Rosie Hardy. More otherworldly images on her flickrstream. (Thanks Rosie for sharing, thanks Steve for facilitating the sharing.)

THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE
by Walt Whitman 

The world below the brine,

Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,

Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle openings, and pink turf,

Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the play of light through the water,

Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes, and the aliment of the swimmers,

Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom,

The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes,

The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray,

Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,

The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere,

The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres.

OUTTAKES: PARASITES

In the course of writing DEEP BLUE HOME I followed a long tapewormlike thread about parasites, which consumed my vital nutrients and left me skinny of ideas for days. The thread never made the final cut. Maybe it'll hatch in larval form in a new book. For now, I pass it to you.

"Not all symbioses are beneficial for both partners—what biologists call mutualism. By far the most prevalent and most highly-evolved symbioses are parisitic (Greek para: beside; sitos: food; literally one who eats at another's table). In fact what we refer to as individuals—whether crabs, kelp or humans—are actually mixed-species aggregates sharing the body equitably enough, for the most part, to prevent the death of the host. Healthy sea lions can bear without seeming ill effect five pounds of parasites of at least twenty species. The fin whales roaming the Gulf of California, second largest of all living creatures at up to 88 feet in length, host equally gargantuan nematode (Greek nema: thread) worms reaching 23 feet in length."

Image (top): Formalin-fixed whole mount of a spiral nematode, multiple exposure (160x), Darkfield. / Jon D. Eisenback, North Carolina State University. Courtesy of Nikon Small World, a 1985 runner-up.

 

Image: J. Claire Hoving, Section of female Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (nematode) with eggs (200X), Nikon Small World