Waterwork of art: American photographer creates amazing images which capture the split-second dyed liquids burst into colour - and are so exquisite they 'look like glass
sculptures'

Jack Long, a 55-year-old photographer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, developed a technique for capturing the images
He build special devices to fire a precise mixture of water and dyes in order to capture - which work underwater
Mr Long made a set of images set in an art gallery and placed on pedestals after admirers said his pictures reminded them of fine glasswork

They look like exquisite vases made of finely-blown glass, placed carefully on a pedestal to receive the admiration of gallery visitors.

But in fact these colourful images are not precious artefacts preserved for the ages, but show a split-second in which specially-manipulated liquids are captured in fantastic formation.

They are the work of American photographer Jack Long, 55, from Milwaukee, who developed a special formula for the liquids himself





Split-second: The images could be mistaken for intricate glasswork, but are actually split-second snapshots of liquid in motion

Alien: These images, part of the Wave/Cave series, look almost alive The accomplished images require a camera with an extremely fast shutter speed to capture properly, and also requires artificial dyes to go in the water, and custom-built machinery to spray the liquids into the correct shapes.
One of his projects, entitled 'Gallery' was prompted by viewers telling him that his images looked like solid glass sculptures - and that if they were real they would buy them.
He decided to set up a series of the fleeting formations on top of pedestals, so that the shapes and colours would look as much like solid artefacts as possible to onlookers.
Mr Long said: 'Someone told me that if my work were actual sculptures, they would buy them.

Bursting into colour: Mr Long uses special dyes to create the dramatic contrasts seen in images such as those above