I first got the idea for these bubble pictures while looking at a NASA photograph of Earth from space. It seemed so round and perfect. And from this, my bubble pictures were born. While other photographers have placed a bubble in their pictures, I have placed the world into my bubbles.

Bubble pictures (Spherism) can be created by a number of different methods. One way is by using a camera lens that gives a fisheye vision of the world. I built my own fisheye lens in 1962, made from surplus optical lenses, and attached to my Canon single lens reflex camera. (See Modern Photography, September 1962.) This lens was also used by fashion photographer Hiro to shoot a magazine cover for art director Henry Wolf. I still use fisheye-style lenses from time to time on my current digital cameras.

The other way to create bubble pictures is by "spherizing" them on the computer. Right now, I'm experimenting with the "Spherical Miracle" plug-in made by Wilkington Smythe. This plug-in is quite versatile. It can produce either circular images or elliptical ones.

At the top of the current page, you will find a small sample of my bubble images. This group is made using the Wilkington Smythe plug-in and there are samples of both circular and elliptical images.

The images are from 1959 to 2013. They are truly trans-millennial bubbles.

Keep your eye on this space. There is more to come.

Tony Karp

Please email me with comments, questions, or suggestions.

tkarp@timuseum.com

Our museum: http://timuseum.com

The artist's blog: http://artzen2.com

The artist's muse's blog: http://artmuse2.com

The artist's journal: http://ti-journal.com