Posted by
Ryan Watts
on
01/12/2011
It looks a simplistic set-up here, but amateur German photographer Heinz Maier has created a complex and fabulous set of photographs. Using precision technology and a good deal of imagination, he photographs coloured water droplets as they splash, creating majestic shapes in mid-air.
Since these splashes only actually exist for a few thousandths of a second, capturing them requires a great deal of precision. At the heart of Maier's set-up is the StopShot trigger, which uses laser technology to activate the camera upon the detection of movement. With a little food colouring and guar gum added to the water, lending it colour and a slightly thickened consistency, he shoots at a variety of extremely fast shutter speeds.
This photographic project shows us that, much like snowflakes, splashing drops of water create entirely individual patterns. But the project shows us much more than that. Maier successfully manipulates the droplets to create these patterns, and some of them are - clearly - extremely complex, showing very high degrees of skill and patience. Water droplets inside soap bubbles, water droplets reminiscent of cocktails and flowers, water droplets inside water droplets. The collection is staggering, seeming to show stillness in movement and movement in stillness at the same time.
We discovered Maier's work after The Telegraph featured it earlier this week. You'll find the article here. Not a bad record for a photographer who only began his hobby a year ago.
Enjoy.