[jellyfishherpes]

Everything’s fine, just chillin’ in the ocean, not a deadline in sight...

[jellyfishherpes]

Despite their primitive biology, watching a jellyfish mystically pulse and unfurl in front of me always gives the feeling of an audience with a supreme being. 

Cyanea are my favourites. This species is purple, the much larger capillata species is fiery orange. 

In the myriad fractal shapes interlocking, bursting and scattering across its glassy canvas can be seen the magma mouths of volcanoes, waking and retiring suns, streamers of borealis; ebbing galaxies and nebulae; a ruby shattering, diffusing, melting, re-crystallising. The earliest whispers of life flicker in its kaleidoscopic bonfire, the wink of a dragon’s eye, the flames of a celestial event. Throb, throb, throb. From pulsar…to red giant…to supernova. What hand could frame this fearful symmetry, conduct this orchestra of fire and ice?  It has not been built, carved or painted, yet in every direction there is perfect order of form and colour.

To be in a quiet summer bay with them again...

Bluefire Jellyfish, Cyanea Lamarckii

[jellyfishherpes]

Sea Gooseberry <3

(The colours are real)

[jellyfishherpes]

I really miss being able to almost literally jump into the sea from my bedroom window (my house is only just outside this shot) 

[jellyfishherpes]

2 ½ ft wide Barrel Jellyfish.

Only managed to get this shot before hastily returning it to the sea, out of reach of the kids who wanted to bludgeon it with rocks. 

�

[jellyfishherpes]

Barrel Jellyfish and April fog <3 

I spent 2 hours in freezing cold sea trying to get the first photo with a dead specimen I’d found (3rd photo. It kept sinking), and then suddenly something small, white and very alive came out of nowhere and I got the shot straight away. Well, part of it...my baby lens isn’t big enough for split level... 

[jellyfishherpes]

Not the best montage, but I love it anyway! Made from pics of comb jellies (mostly tiny Beroe) and hydromedusae from early September which were taken in a dark washing up bowl. The lighting was a torch clenched between my teeth

[jellyfishherpes]

Fragility vs durability (jelly/concrete…temporary space/600+ million years of evolution)    

Intimidation vs invasion

Awe vs disgust (regarding the scenic qualities of a grimy alleyway as well as the jellies)

Sam vs jagged edges made by the computer mouse

Different levels of being~

These still need loads more love and attention, but I like some bits. They've already taken ages.

The lion's mane one (the most unfinished one) particularly has parts that were obviously rushed and left, especially the top left corner, but is my fave anyway. 

I'd love to know what people who are less obsessed with jellyfish, if at all, think of these. 

[jellyfishherpes]

Lazy editing and body decoration, but they’re only really supposed to function as sketches and I quite like them. First one is a photo of me combined with a photo taken in long exposure of me waving glow sticks around. Actually painted myself blue and pink, I didn’t know where to find a blacklight or proper fluorescent paint. 

I’d love to do this to someone with a prettier face and take whole body shots or even a group shot, but I wouldn’t trust anyone to be patient enough, even if I used stencils. Setting up a ‘stage’ with dark bed sheets and lamps and modifying their light intensity by draping fabrics over them took almost as many hours as the actual body painting. And these are just sketches :/ I guess I could paint mannequins, but I’d get so carried away. 

Lots of accidental inspiration from Johnny Vargas-I started painting splodges after doing the eyes and then realised I’d stolen this look from him, but carried on anyway because it’s a great look and so appropriately alien/organic.   

Yum yum biomorphic formz 

[littlemissnoface]

I love seeing these in relation to the artist’s paintings. I think this photography work, even though these are meant to be 'sketches', is an interesting direction.

Makes me think a lot about childhood to adolescence transitions and growth. 

[jellyfishherpes]

Thanks for your intriguing thoughts! I hoped these would be a bit angsty/riddled with denial in that way.

They were partly inspired by conversations my flatmates (all engineering students) were having about the increasing possibilities of downloading information into the human brain.

I thought about how much industry focuses on discovering new ways to augment and improve us, to increase our efficiency- as workers/consumers/ for whatever greater purpose, and the efficiency of our environment in stimulating us. To upgrade people rather than help them.

I wanted to combine ideas on body-augmentation, self-absorption and escapism and just blurt out something bizzare. The visuals were inspired by wasted research I did into colour change in cephalopods, and bioluminescence in…guess what animal…..guess.

(SORRY FOR REBLOGGING MY CRAP AGAIN, JUST CONVENIENT FOR RECORDING THINGS, if a little embarrassing)

[jellyfishherpes]

Completely un-edited photo of a red candle bathed in blue Christmas lights from Christmas, 2012.

Space Abalone :o 

[jellyfishherpes]

Logos I've designed for a friend (which I doubt he'll use), superimposed over some underwater photos (that I doubt I'll use).

Neon coral? They almost have that sort of cyber baroque visual I'm looking for. 

[jellyfishherpes]

[jellyfishherpes]

[jellyfishherpes]

Fairly unsuccessful experiments with long exposure. Hoped for something more spectacular, but these are still cute (soooo blotchy though. wtf).

[jellyfishherpes]

Just look at it.

2 foot wide Lion's Mane Jellyfish. I managed to free its tentacles, which were sprawled across rocks above the water, but it was far too big to rescue from its temporary rock pool prison. It would have been amazing to appreciate it in its full glory in the sea, but this moment was still unforgettable. 

A week earlier there were loads of them, but the sea was too much of an angry mess to get in. I saw one from a cliff top and thought it was a rock or a chunk of dead seal at first because of its size (probably about a metre across). To swim with that! Hopefully next year good conditions will coincide with more spectacular visitors. 

[jellyfishherpes]

I miss them ok

[jellyfishherpes]

What a treat. I was under its hypnosis for about 2 hours, trying to understand how colours and forms can do that, and trying to capture it on camera. I have honestly never seen anything so beautiful. It was like a big, fiery, pulsing kaleidoscope.