They may look like constellations in space, but these pictures actually show something closer to home: the after-effects of gunfire. Unlike the horror of the Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings, though, the images have a certain beauty about them–the randomness of intense energy barreling through plexiglass.

Photographer Deborah Bay calls the series “The Big Bang.” She says she became interested in guns after seeing a sales display of bullet-proof glass with several heavy rounds in it. “I was particularly interested in how the transparent plastic captured the fragmentation of the bullets and provided a dramatic way of seeing ballistic power outside the usual frame of reference,” she says.

She describes the “psychological tension” between the “jewel-like beauty” of the images, and the “inherent destructiveness of the fragmented projectiles in the plexiglas.”

Bay doesn’t want to detail her own gun control views: “I think it’s up to the viewer to interpret the work,” she says. But the photographer does ask us to “realize the impact any of these bullets would have on muscle and bone,” and to appreciate how pervasive guns have become in America. In her home state of Texas, she notes there are an estimated 51 million guns–two for every man, woman and child.

The bullets pictured here were fired peacefully–at a Public Safety Institute at Houston Community College–by law enforcement professionals. Bay took the actual photos back at her studio later.

Via Co.Exsist.

Boguslaw Strempel

In his photographic series Vanishing Spirits Phoenix-based photographer Ernie Button explores what happens after the last drop is drunk in his macro photographs of evaporated single-malt Scotch whiskey. Not unlike the recently featured work of Jason Tozer, Button turns the minute details of stained glass into curious landscapes and colorful terrain. Of the project he says:

The idea for this project occurred while putting a used Scotch glass into the dishwasher. I noted a film on the bottom of a glass and when I inspected closer, I noted these fine, lacey lines filling the bottom. What I found through some experimentation is that these patterns and images that you see can be created with the small amount of Single-Malt Scotch left in a glass after most of it has been consumed. The alcohol dries and leaves the sediment in various patterns. It’s a little like snowflakes in that every time the Scotch dries, the glass yields different patterns and results. I have used different color lights to add ‘life’ to the bottom of the glass, creating the illusion of landscape, terrestrial or extraterrestrial. (Via Colossal.)

Tower Bridge, London

The Emmerich Rhine Bridge

The Schauspielhaus Zürich

The Reichstag Building

London Houses of Parliament

Sony Center, Berlin

Medienhafen Düsseldorf

The National Gallery, London

In this series, entitled World Dis Order, Berlin-based photographer Christian Ruhm presents his viewers with a chaotic depiction of many well-known places around the world. He masterfully uses multiple exposures to create a sense of motion in the otherwise imposing and steady structures. The circular tilts and swirls of each photograph redefine each popular attraction in an elegant, painterly fashion, and viewers are challenged to reconsider old places in a whole new context.

From the London Bridge to the Sony Center in Berlin, Ruhm’s architectural studies transform stunning landmarks into a whirl of chaos and disorder. The naturally busy areas become a visual blur of excitement in these combinations of multiple exposures, which do not rely on any digital post-processing. Through Ruhm’s collective view of the same location, viewers are compelled to consider the beauty of each familiar architectural structure as if they were seeing it for the very first time. Via MyModernMet.

Since first covering the photography of Russian biologist Alexander Semenov back in January his self-directed “Underwater Experiments” series has continued unabated as he releases other-worldy shots of the Earth’s most elusive creatures almost daily. Again and again Semenov captures some of the most jaw-dropping photographs of underwater life I’ve ever seen, most frequently an animal called lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) which is the largest known species of jellyfish in the world. What you see here only scratches the surface of his work over the last couple of months, definitely urge you to get lost in his underwater gallery. Via Colossal.

Oleg Zhukov on Behance

Janne Parviainen

Leland Bobbé

Dusan Beno

Jean-Paul Bourdier

Whether he’s blending bodies into the landscape or creating vivid silhouettes that stand out against a brilliant backdrop, photographer Jean-Paul Bourdier’s Bodyscapescollection is insanely gorgeous. The California-based photographer combines performance art, body paints, and magnificent landscapes to create these stunning images where natural human bodies intertwine with the environment.

The artist chooses to photograph only on film, using no digital manipulation, which awakens a sense of timeless wonder in the traditionally created images. His photographs often have a strong sense of symmetry, both in shape and in featured color palettes. Mirroring the landscape, the bodies complement each scene with just the right visual combinations of physical interruption and environmental serenity.

Bourdier says “Rather than being a mere recording of an encounter between event and photographer, the photograph is an event of its own: long prepared, and yet full of unexpected moments; a still manifestation of an encounter between desert light, body light, and camera eye.” Via My Modern Met.

Alban Grosdidier

Drowning is a project that talks about the feeling of submersion that you can have living in a big city. There are as many ways of dealing with it that there are people, and therefore there are as many portraits waiting to be done.

The first portrait was presented on the borders of the river Seine in January 2012 and the second part of the series was showcased for an afternoon along the canal Saint Martin in July 2012.

Tim Tadder

Diens Silver on Flickr

Robert Buelteman

Photographer Robert Buelteman uses thousands of volts of electricity to create his photographs by zapping a little life and energy into already beautiful plants. The process, called Kirlian photography, was made famous in 1939 by Russian inventor Semyon Davidovich Kirlian who discovered the process accidentally through experimentation. To capture the glowing light through each flower, Buelteman first carves at the plants with surgical tools until they are thin and sheer. Next, he places a sheet of transparency film below a metal sheet floating in liquid silicone. He puts the plants on top of the film and connects them, with clamps, to a source of voltage. Buelteman then generates up to 80,000 volts through the plant to capture the resulting glow on film.

Buelteman works completely in the dark, so after he shocks the plants, he paints with light across the shape of the plant to add additional illumination and detail to the image. These glowing plants are an impressive example of photographic techniques that don’t require any digital manipulation.The artist says, “While I remain fascinated by the organic design of simple flowers and plants, I have become increasingly drawn to the power of abstraction made available through the manipulation of color, form, and light.” Via My Modern Met.

Elena Kalis

Russian photographer Elena Kalis brings to life all kinds of magical stories, from her creative fantasy worlds to her darker, more serious work. It’s no mystery that the Bahamas-based artist is inspired by the ocean. She says “It’s vast and multifaceted. One day it is bright, sunny and fun. Yet there is another side which is darkness, unconsciousness, death. I can never get tired from it and it is my main daily dose of inspiration.”

In this collection, each image features the curiosities of a young boy or girl, simply exploring the world from a new perspective. Using the already natural and gorgeous backdrop of the Bahamas, Kalis brings to the surface a world of imagination, surrounded by rainbows of vivid colors and sparkling sunshine.

Kalis has incredible talents for working underwater. Her compositions are stunning and her young subjects (sometimes her daughter) are perfect for the stories that she tells. When asked about the challenges of working below the surface, Kalis said, “Nothing works the same way as in the ground. It’s like you are in another dimension. But this is why it is so interesting…” Via My Modern Met.

Metamorphose

UK-based photographer Ian Hobson is an expert at all kinds of impressive light art photography. When you first see his images, a collection called Waving Torches at Things, you won’t believe that he creates them directly from his camera without the use of any digital manipulation. But, according to his website, he says, “All images are photographs, straight from the camera. Nothing is added, the only post-processing is conversion of the digital negatives into jpegs.”

Hobson’s complex spectacles of light combine waves, streaks, and swirls to form an image filled with trippy patterns of color. The trick to this work is the use of very long exposures to capture the variety of light streaks that he places in front of the lens. Hobson uses all kinds of light sources to create these unique images, ranging from battery powered, handheld light tubes in all colors, to flaming wool tossed into the air. The final results are incredible designs that will take your breath away! Via My Modern Met.