SOME 50 million years ago, an ant was foraging on a tree trunk growing on what is now the Baltic coast of Russia. A trickle of resin oozing from the tree trapped the insect, killing it and sealing it off from the world. And yet here it is.
Fossils invoke a sense of wonder because they connect us physically to the distant past. When organisms are trapped in tree resin and fossilised as it turns to amber, this dehydrates their body and drastically slows decomposition, forming beautifully preserved specimens. But the captured organisms, literal time capsules, have never been so clearly seen as in new images by photographer Levon Biss.
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Previously, Biss specialised in photographing insects with a microscope by stitching together thousands of close-ups to create ultra-high resolution images. Looking for another challenge, he has now turned his attention to insects trapped in amber, and the first finished print is this ant, from an unknown species.
These fossil subjects are smaller than those Biss usually photographs and are in a material that makes the camerawork more difficult. “To overcome the effects of refraction within the amber, the stone is suspended within an oil of a similar refractive index,” he says. “This allows me to produce images of a far higher clarity. Creating unique and beautiful imagery should not be easy. If it was, the final photograph would be worthless to me.”
The images are printed using a process called carbon transfer, which should stop the colours fading for 1000 years. They are framed in wood from trees preserved in peat bogs, carbon-dated to 5300 years ago. The piece of amber used is presented in a cavity in the frame, to provide the viewer with a sense of scale.
“I adore the fact that this project essentially began millions of years ago when these creatures were encapsulated within the tree sap,” Biss says. “It began long before me, and because of the longevity of the printing process, it will continue long after I have gone.”
Photographer
Levon Biss,
This article appeared in print under the headline “The amber spyglass”
