February 19, 2010, 12:11 pm
Life in One Cubic Foot
by Lisa Agustin
Filed under: Photography, Visual Explanation
Sometimes the simplest visual explanations are the most powerful. Case in point: David Liittschwager’s series of photographs in which he shows how much life can be found in one cubic foot. Liittschwager’s team visited five diverse environments including Central Park, New York and Moorea, French Polynesia. At each location, the team used a 12-inch metal-framed cube to carve out a mini-ecosystem, then observed the plants and animal life that moved in and out of the space, down to one millimeter. In all, more than a thousand individual organisms were photographed. Says Liittschwager: “It was like finding little gems.” Seeing the inhabitants of each environment assembled together, the sheer volume of the collection is awe-inspiring. One improvement I’d like to suggest: to give each environment some context, I’d like to see the specimens arranged by groups or the layers in which they were found. Be sure to check out the videos that show how the team documented each eco-system.
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