Paola Stephania

BACKGROUND.

• Architect and Designer with an emphasis in product design of Los Andes University (Bogotá/Colombia)
• Currently making Master in Media Architecture in Bauhaus University (Weimar/Germany)

PROJECT IDEA.

Create a series of photographies of a variety of specimens out and under the microscope. The specimens can come from laboratory allowed specimens, samples from own body and specimens found in the Ilm park Weimar-Germany from water, plants and so on.

MICROORGANISM INVESTIGATION.

In order to decide which microorganism are suitable for the work that is going to be developed, an initial investigation is made in order to understand the characteristics of each microorganism, their needs in order to grow, and important information suitable for the project.

• List of bacterias and microorganism that can be cultivated in laboratories of high security.

• • Bacillus Subtilis - (brown)
  • Chromobacterium violaceum - (violet)
  • Escherichia Coli - (colourless)
  • Micrococcus Luteus - (Yellow)
  • Micrococcus Roseus - (Rosa)
  • Proteus Mirabilis / Pseudomonas aeruginosa - (brown)
  • Pseudomonas Fluorescens – (Blue or green) fluorescens with pyoverdine
  • Serratia Marcescens – (Pink or Orange)
  • Staphylococcus aureus – (Yellow)
  • Vibrio Fischeri – (Bioluminescent)

• List of bacterias and microorganism that can be cultivated in laboratories of medium/basic security.

• • Polycephalum/physarum - (Yellow) tree form
  • Clorococcum spec - (green)
  • Euglena gracilis - (green)
  • Euglena Spirogyra / Lepocinclis Spirogyroides - (green/yellow)
  • Haematococcus Pluvialis - (red)
  • Volvox Aureus - (granulated green)
  • Sternalge / Zygnema spec - (yellow/green) remoline form
  • Blepharisma Americana - (red)
  • Blepharisma Japonicum - (red)
  • Hidra Vulgaris - (white) long straight form

Here is a web page with information about some microorganism, how to cultivate them, the price of some of them.

http://www.lebendkulturen.de/

MICROSCOPIC PHOTOGRAPHY.

The first step is to find a subject, in my case I want to work with Polycephalum/physarum and with some other microorganism that can be found in the Ilm Park, in Weimar-Germany.

Types of photography with a microscope:

• Köhler Illumination: neutral and uniform backlighting, helps to maximize the contrast and resolution in the image.
  • https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/int/solutions/reference/basic-microscopy/koehler-illumination.html
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYP0uBxE0AA

• Darkfield: makes an object glow against a black background by using a darkfield condenser into the microscope (there are to types; dry or oil condenser).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-field_microscopy
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw557w421is

Link to examples in microscopic photography https://www.popphoto.com/tips-pro-microscopic-photography