Alan Jaras is an artist and scientist based in St. Helens, UK.
“I have always been fascinated in visualising the invisible. After a long career in industrial scientific research using optical and electron microscopy to image the microscopic world I now explore the strange and wonderful world of the refraction patterns of light.  Working with glass, plastics and resins I capture these unique patterns formed by a single static beam of light after it passes through the complex transparent objects that I create. They are formed directly on to film without the use of a camera lens. In this system  the refractive object replaces the lens and the distant source of light becomes the photographic subject. I call these images “Refractographs”.  By not incorporating any reference scale in the images the results can resemble strange microscopical lifeforms through to galaxies in deep space – it is up to the viewer to imagine and decide.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanjaras/
Click on images to enlarge.
