Back to photostream

Mercury Splat Macro

Mercury in motion - macro splat.

 

View On Black

 

Please don't try this unless you really plan ahead and know a bit about handling toxic substances.

 

An experiment with mercury for the Canon Photo5 'Splat' (Capturing Action) brief. As soon as I saw this brief in the competition I knew I wanted to use mercury, a truly 'opaque' liquid. Unfortunately, it's not an easy thing to photograph - and I couldn't find anyone who would let me 'splat' it in their face or over their head for kicks. My final images were far from what I had hoped for but it was fun all the same - even if it was a difficult (and dangerous) thing to try. The clean up job afterwards was a killer.

 

Mercury - Chemical Symbol Hg, also known as quicksilver. Hg (hydrargyrum) is derived from the Greek word hydrargyros, which is a compound word meaning 'water' and 'silver' — since it is liquid like water, and yet has a silvery metallic sheen. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for speed and mobility.

 

 

16,808 views
130 faves
63 comments
Uploaded on November 4, 2009
Taken on November 1, 2009