Jon Smith’s Bright, Uncanny Photographs of Exploding Light Bulbs

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Practitioners of high-speed photography tend to be fascinated with the heretofore invisible parts of the visible world, and Jon Smith is no exception. Trained as a chemist, Smith turned his skills in empirical observation to art when he began framing ordinary objects in moments of violent motion and rapidly diffusing color and light. For a series on his Flickr page WideEyedIlluminations (spotted via Colossal), Smith filled glass incandescent light bulbs with marbles, feathers, chalk dust, and other bright-hued materials, shot them with a pellet gun, and captured them just as they were blown to bits.

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith

Photo credit: Jon Smith