Abstract nominee

Micro crystals - frontier runners between art and science.
As common companions in our everyday lives we face Ascorbic acid, acetaminophen, urea and menthol in medication, make-up, and groceries. These substances hardly seem mysterious, yet by forming micro crystals they create a world of wonders. Photographed through a microscope they become visible and allow us a glimpse of a journey through colourful landscapes and fantastic shapes. These pictures, not unlike modern pieces of abstract art, invite us to our own associations as multifaceted as the random shapes the crystals form. The photographer can never be sure whether the session will of success, whether the crystals will open up vistas of a universe of shapes and colours. As the photographer succeeds in revealing the obscure, nature reveals itself within the art and the view into the invisible becomes an adventure, the mundane becomes the magical.

A melt of Ascorbic acid in polarised light.
Scale of reproduction 32x / Magnification approx. 400:1.
Microscope: Carl Zeiss Jena JENALB-Pol.
Objective: Carl Zeiss Jena GFPA 40x/0,65/oo/0,17/-A.
Connection to camera: MF photo adjustment APO for digital microphotography from BW-Optik.
Camera model: ILCE-6500

Peter Juzak (63) is a bookbinder as well as a graphic and desktop publisher. He has been conducting experimental photo studies on micro crystals for more than 30 years. He has worked for Bayer Vital GmbH and was author and photographer for Medicalpicture GmbH.

I'm the winner of The Big Picture Competition 2016 in the category Art of Nature.
https://www.bigpicturecompetition.org/2016winners

I'm a finalist of The Big Picture Competition 2021 in the category Art of Nature.
https://www.bigpicturecompetition.org/2021-winners

2nd Place, 2021 Annual Chromatic Awards Photography
3nd Place, 2022 Annual Chromatic Awards Photography

Nikon Small World HONORABLE MENTION, 2016 SMALL WORLD IN, MOTION COMPETITION
https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/people/peter-juzak

Exhibition in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture April - June 2018
Hannover Medical School, November 27-February 2014 "The fascination of microcrystals"

Pictures of me are published in the book "Wonders: Spectacular Moments in Nature Photography", published by the California Academy of Sciences.
http://mikrokristalle.org/spectacular-mome