Making Small Beautiful
In a world of big buildings, vehicles, people and egos, it’s perhaps nice to know that there are still people interested in the little things.
Therefore, one unsung hero has to be Dr. Dennis Kunkel, who has amassed an impressive collection of photographs taken of really really very teeny-weeny small things.
His image library contains more than a thousand colour and black and white images taken through scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The subjects vary from insects, spiders and bacteria to fungi, plants and medical images, and most have a detailed explanation of what you’re looking at.
Dennis is an award winning photomicrographer, specialising in capturing the bizarre images that appear when you take a look at the unknown, or at least look at things on a different scale.
He studied in the USA, where he developed skills as a microscopist and published many papers on topics within zoology, microbiology, and materials science.
Radiolarians are one of the many micro-beasties to have had the Kunkel treatment.
His real interest was not just the science behind what he was looking at, but also the beauty in the form of the subjects, many of which have been coloured. Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. offers microscopy services as well as the fine pictures that can be viewed and bought as t-shirts and prints.
The “bug mugs” section, which highlights the “12 most wanted bugs”, is particularly fascinating, and none of the images would look out of place on the cover of a 1950s B-movie horror film!
Have a look at www.denniskunkel.com to see the full collection and to learn more.
Other unsung heroes:
- Crystal legend - George Gray
- Most published? - Meir Stampfer
- Star of the stars - Caroline Herschel
- Centenarian legend - Ray Crist
Radiolarians: © Dennis Kunkel
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