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Photography Culture

These Photos of Space Are Created Using Food and a Photo Scanner

Chris Gampat
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06/21/2016
3 Mins read
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All images by Navid Baraty. Used with permission.

Photographer Navid Baratay was previously on this site for his Intersection piece, but he’s also the creator of a really amazing series involving food and a photo scanner. Navid arranges all the pieces very carefully to make them look like a scene from outer space. In fact, it would probably be otherwise very tough to tell the difference.

To do this, Navid tells us that it involves lots and lots of trial and error.

Phoblographer: Where did you get the idea to do this project?

Navid: I’d seen other examples of scanography where artists scanned objects with the scanner lid open to create a sharp contrast between the highly detailed scan of the object against a the black background made from leaving the lid open. I wondered if I might be able to create space scenes on that black background by sprinkling spices and other ingredients on the scanner glass. I was definitely surprised at how realistic the scans looked.

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Phoblographer: Was there storyboarding at all involved or were you just messing around on a scanner?

Navid: No storyboarding at all, just lots and lots of trail and error really. The images are made by placing the objects on an Epson photo scanner and then making a scan with the lid open. Most of the planets and moons are made by scanning the bottoms of glasses containing liquids. The liquids naturally create the shapes and swirls that you see in the images when they mix. The stars and other points of light are made by sprinkling spices and the other ingredients around the scanner glass. It will often take me 2-3 hours before I get a scan that I’m happy with. The whole project has been one big experiment in progress. I keep working to perfect my existing techniques while trying to figure out ways to create new celestial objects.

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Phoblographer: Were there specific images you’ve seen previously that inspired you at all?

Navid: Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other planetary spacecraft have greatly inspired me. I’ve had a fascination with space ever since I was a kid camping in the backyard and looking at the stars through my childhood telescope. When I look at the night sky, I’m captivated by its mystery and its unknowns.

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I thought it would be fun to frame the project around the idea of this imaginary spacecraft roaming around the universe taking photos of its encounters. I had a whole story going for awhile of how I was selected to be the lead image processor for the Wander mission since I’m a photographer but have a degree in engineering, and that this was a real spacecraft out there taking images. A lot of people actually thought it was real! Part of the reason I created this fake narrative was to see if my scanned creations looked realistic enough to convince people that they were actual images from the cosmos. Eventually I decided to tell people how I really make the images.

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Navid Baraty photos scanner wander space
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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