Lennart Nilsson.

I can't take good pictures to save my life.
I mean, really.

I went to the library today and found a book by Lennart Nilsson titled 'Life.'



Its a collection of pictures taken by Nilsson of things medically-related, from pictures of the living human embryo to never-before-captured microscopic images of HIV and SARS on the molecular level. The way that they are captured and presented is downright amazing and just beyond words. I still can't fully comprehend how beautiful the book is. Words don't do it justice, not now, not ever. There's no need for interest in Biology, just an appreciation for good photography is enough to leave you floored. Without sounding like too much of a nerd, that book just blew me away, and I can safely say its now one of my favourite books, period.

He is famous for his photographs of in vivo human embryos and other medical subjects once considered unphotographable, and more generally for his extreme macro photography. He is also considered to be among Sweden’s first modern photojournalists.
(courtesy of wikipedia)


The picture that started it all. It appeared on the cover of Life Magazine issue 1965 and was the first of its kind. It was an unprecedented look at the living embryo and to this day remains to be one of the most important photographs ever to be taken.




The brain starts to develop in the human embryo.

I'm weirdly obsessed with embryonic development, I don't know why that is.
Its Something out of Nothing,
Its the definition of perfection.
For every minute, and every second, every detail is accounted for-when the heart starts beating, when we start to swallow things around us, when we kick, and sleep.
Once I saw twins playing, and fighting with each other in the womb, tugging at the umbilical cord, and pushing the other to the side with his feet. How do they know how to do that?

Update: link to the official website. Multitude of different pictures released under copyright.