Est. 2014 · Microscopy & Light
Studio open for commissions
Scientific photography revealing the hidden beauty of physics, chemistry and biology - captured through advanced photomicrography techniques.
A Dublin-based scientific photographic artist exploring the often-unseen beauty of the natural world.
My work is driven by a fascination with science, nature and the micro cosmos. I use a specialised array of light microscopy techniques to observe and photograph the microcosm, from the exquisite patterns that emerge in crystalline chemical formulations, the spectacular optical effects seen in cosmetics, the architecture of plant tissues, and the living kingdoms of the freshwater microcosm. My images aim to be both scientifically informative and visually and aesthetically striking.
My chemical-formulation photographs take on a botanical-like appearances - not by design, but through thermodynamic self-organisation when the chemistry is tuned just right. Formulation proportions are adjusted until crystal films grow into the shapes of leaves, branches and floral arrangements. Wave plates draw out the colours by altering the phase relationship between the polarised components of light, transforming the differences in the crystalline topography into striking interference colours. The results are a fusion of art and science, appealing to anyone captivated by plants, nature and the curious boundary where chemistry begins to resemble botany.
Beyond the gallery, the images appear in scientific publications, educational materials, and editorial commissions. All photographs are available as small-edition archival prints, signed and numbered. For sales, commissions, or licensing, please get in touch through the contact form.
The same crossed polarisers that unlock the crystalline gardens of the chemistry work turn cosmetics into fields of light. Eyeshadows, lip glosses, nail lacquers and shimmer oils are built from mica platelets and pigment crystals — and under the microscope those particles scatter, diffract and interfere into unexpected colour.
What reads as a single shade in the pan resolves, at magnification, into a mosaic of individual flakes, each catching the light at its own angle. Photographed at the eyepiece, everyday glamour becomes a study in optics — the physics of shimmer, made visible.
Under crossed polarisers, a secret chemical formulation grows into a thin crystalline film. The film resembles a dense floral garden when observed using the phenomenon of polarised light.
The process takes patience. Synthesising the formulation takes about a week. Crystallisation itself takes up to an hour, sometimes longer - but the structures disintegrate the moment the heat is removed, and those fragmented samples are discarded. The artworks you see here are the survivors. To produce one piece worth framing can take several hours or several days.
A single drop of pond water is its own universe. Cultured from local ponds, ditches and rain-butts, then coaxed under darkfield, phase contrast and polarised light, the freshwater microcosm reveals a cast of living architecture — Volvox turning in green spheres, desmids folded in perfect symmetry, the restless geometry of diatoms.
Where the chemistry work is still, this is alive — and much of it can only be told in motion: a Paramecium grazing, a Vorticella snapping shut on its stalk, the slow tumble of a Daphnia with its heart beating in real time. Filmed at the eyepiece and set here beside the stills, it is the same patient looking, turned on living things.
Vitamins, amino acids and everyday medicines are, at heart, crystals. Dissolved, recrystallised on glass and viewed between crossed polarisers, compounds like vitamin C, niacin and dopamine grow into thin films that blaze with interference colour — the same molecules found in a supplement capsule, rendered as luminous abstract landscapes.
Each compound carries its own signature: some fan out in fine needles, others in feathered rosettes or blocky mosaics, their colours set by film thickness and crystal orientation. It's a way of seeing the chemistry of health and wellness not as a list of ingredients, but as structure — ordered, particular, and quietly beautiful.
Art of Science Photography is now teaming up with Hélène Lambert — a chemist, crystallographer and scientific designer based at the University of Geneva, whose work runs remarkably parallel to my own.
A Swiss chemist, designer and pianist, and the founder of Helnium, a Geneva-based, science-driven design house where chemistry becomes art.
Working from laboratory crystallisations observed under the polarising microscope, Hélène captures the structures of real molecules and translates them into visual artworks and design objects. Her research sits in coordination chemistry and crystallography - recently exploring lanthanide systems and the interaction of light and matter - and her practice runs remarkably close to my own: where I photograph self-organising crystalline films, she builds directly from the molecule outward, revealing the hidden geometry of matter.
In 2025 her work earned two distinctions from the University of Geneva - a Geneva Responsible Entrepreneurship Center (GREC) scholarship and the competition's Best Idea prize. Her research has featured on Swiss national television (RTS), with collaborations spanning the University of Geneva and ETH Zurich.
“When chemistry reveals the art of the universe.” Helnium
For print enquiries, commissions, licensing, exhibitions, or press requests - fill in the form, or write directly. I aim to reply within a few working days.
