Three for the Memories 2021

[nanila]

[This is cross-posted from the Dreamwidth community threeforthememories, which is great and you should all join it. You have until next Monday 24 January if you want to post three photos to it that define your year last year, and no time constraints on enjoying everyone else's posts. I think it might actually be years since I've either promoted a community or cross-posted from one. Yikes.]

1. Telstar (RIP)
   
   This is - was - our beloved cat Telstar, just before he turned twelve in June of last year. We had no idea that we only had a few months left with him at this point, as his decline was very sudden. Losing him is an event that will forever be associated with 2021.



2. Seals at Blakeney Point
   
   A highlight of our summer holiday was our trip to Blakeney, on the coast of north Norfolk, when we went on a seal-watching trip. Seeing them all blissed out on the beach in banana pose was a joy.



3. Under the microscope
   
   This is an image from a confocal microscope of silver nitrate crystals attempting to grow in a high concentration of ascorbic acid (from fizzy vitamin C tablets, hence the captured bubbles). It was taken as part of an Arts Council England residency that artist cha_mel_eon has with me, which allows her to explore the beauty of materials, including those involving precious metals like silver. I took this image; it doesn’t have the regular crystal growth that she was after, which you get from much lower concentrations of both silver nitrate solution and ascorbic acid, so it isn’t in the images she’s published from the set. I really like it though.
   
   Being able to do collaborative art-science projects is one of the best bits of my job.