BEVIL TEMPLETON-SMITH
Look A Little Closer

My work sits at the intersection of science, experimentation and fine art - through the use of photomicrography. Using a 1970 polarising microscope and a modern digital camera I photograph real crystals on glass slides in polarised light, with a very un-scientific wave plate (sheets of mica / cd case / cellophane etc.). The colour and form seen in these images are produced by optical interference within the crystal itself rather than digital manipulation or AI. Ordinary materials that appear unremarkable to the naked eye become vivid abstract fields when viewed in polarised light. By treating the microscope as both scientific instrument and as camera lens, I explore how perception changes with scale, light, and interference. Small adjustments to angles or orientation produce radically different visual outcomes. The resulting photographs challenge assumptions about what photography can represent and invite slower looking revealing hidden complexity in everyday and common substances.

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