Since today is informally ParaSaturday (parasite-Saturday) on io9, photographer Marcus DeSieno , best known for his Victorian-style portraits of various parasite species posing like figures of the old West, was generous enough to submit to us his latest: Two Worms Having Sex. Namely, Schistosoma mansoni — blood flukes.
DeSieno, whose photography has been profiled on National Geographic, the Smithsonian, Slate Magazine and Wired, among others, uses a dry plate gelatin ferrotype to give the images their archaic quality. According to DeSieno, "I take the images with a scanning electron microscope, then take that digital file and turn it into a digital negative for the darkroom. That's where I expose it onto a small, tintype plate. The merging between contemporary imaging technology and antiquated photographic processes speak to a larger history of photography and its evolution as a tool, to see the invisible and unseen in relation to science."
Ascaris lubricoides
Baylisascaris procyonis
Cimex lectularius
Dermacentor Andersoni
Dermatobia hominus
Diphyllobothrium latum
Fasciola herpatica
Ixodes Scapularis
Hirudo medicinalis
Pediculus humanus capitis
Pulex Irritans
Schistosoma mansoni
Taenia solium
And the flukes, as promised:
Mr. Desieno has —as he assures us —granted io9 full permission to *HOST* these parasite photographs. Haha.
See more at his website, here:
All photos by Marcus DeSieno Photography © 2014
Contact the author at fisharebeautiful@gmail.com.