I am very happy that my photo won the 1st prize in the 2024 Microscopy Today Micrograph Awards competition. Another picture ended as Finalist.
The premise of the micrograph competition is that scientific images can be interesting and have significant visual impact. This year, submissions came from 21 countries and 17 US states.
Open Category 1st Prize. Colonial diatoms. Phytoplankton Licmophora flabellata are colonial diatoms. Phytoplankton produces around 50% of all oxygen on earth by photosynthesis, and plankton play an essential role in the global carbon cycle (light microscopy). Image by Jan van IJken, Leiden, Netherlands.
Open Category, Finalist Water flea Chydorus sphaericus carrying an egg. Light microscopy. Image by Jan van IJken, Leiden, Netherlands
Naima Joris and Vitja Pauwels symbiotically merge their sound with Jan van IJken’s live edited microscopic images of plankton, to offer a glimpse into the underwater world as you’ve never seen it before. The title O is a reference to the circle of life of which plankton is an integral part, and a play on ‘eau’, the French word for water. The result is a thrilling improvised spectacle with an enchanting effect and an urgent message.
To celebrate the release of my film Planktonium, I decided to produce a Limited Edition Collectors Box (35 copies only!) of the project.
This numbered (35/35) Box is containing:
3 signed and numbered inkjetprints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag baryta (315 gsm) A4 size paper, printed by Hans Bol Full version of the short film Planktonium (15:23) + extra footage (02:00) in 4K and HD format on USB stick An essay on plankton by Jelle Reumer, text design by Karin van der Meer Handmade Box by Liesbeth Visser, including an extra photo on the front
The price is € 295,00 including 9% VAT, excluding cost of shipment.
Produced with generous financial support of Nederlands Filmfonds, Gemeente Leiden and Stichting Oog op de Natuur
ENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – INTERNATIONAL ORDERSENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – DUTCH ORDERSGERMAN EDITION BY TECKLENBORG VERLAG
Planktonium is a short film and photo project by Jan van IJken about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of all waters around us and they are of vital importance for all life on earth.
Jan van IJken photographed the plankton through his microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail.
Phytoplankton (small plant-like cells) are producing half of all oxygen on earth by photosynthesis, like plants and trees do on land. Zooplankton (animal-like critters) are eating the phytoplankton, and are on the menu of larger animals in the water. So plankton is forming the base of the food chain of aquatic life. Plankton are also playing an important part in the global carbon cycle. The plankton are threatened by climate change, global warming and acidification of the oceans.
Produced with generous financial support of Gemeente Leiden and Stichting Oog op de Natuur.
Preview of some selected photos:
Diatom Coscinodiscus
Water flea – Chydorus sphaericus carrying egg
Phantom midge larva
Gloeotrichia – Cyanobacteria
Obelia
Colonial diatoms: Licmophora flabellata
Planktonium – Short film and photo series about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton
Tunica larva (Oikopleuridae)
Diatoms
Pleurosigma
Diatoms from the mud of the Dutch Wadden Sea
Heliozoean
Ctenophore (comb jellie)
Water flea - Diaphanosoma brachyurum carrying eggs
Water flea Polyphemus pediculus carrying embryos
Rotifer
Diatom Ditylum brightwelli
Tube dwelling diatoms
Diatoms Coscinodiscus
Radiolaria
Testate amoeba
Planktonic trochophore stage of the larva of a polychaete worm
Copepod carrying diatoms
Eggs
Tunicate egg
Echinoderm larva
Colonial diatoma, attached on marine red algae
Cyanobacteria – Merismopedia elegans
Water flea – Daphnia carrying embryos and peritrichs
BECOMING is a short film about the miraculous genesis of animal life. In great microscopic detail, we see the ‘making of’ a salamander in its transparant egg from fertilization to hatching.
The first stages of embryonic development are roughly the same for all animals, including humans. In the film, we can observe a universal process which normally is invisible: the very beginning of an animal’s life. A single cell is transformed into a complete, complex living organism with a beating heart and running bloodstream.
The salamander embryo (an Ichthyosaura Alpestris) was followed very closely in a combination of timelapse and film. All stages of embryogenesis can be seen in this film: cleavage, gastrulation, neurulation and organogenesis. Time was condensed from about 3 weeks to 6 minutes.
2018, HD video, color, 06:15
Becoming has been screened at more than 25 international film festivals and received the Award for best short documentary at the Innsbruck nature film festival 2018 and the Vision Science Award at Imagine Science Abu Dhabi 2019.
In 2019 the film went ‘viral’ on internet and has been watched by a few million people. It was published on the website of National Geographic, Aeon, Colossal, Live Science, IFLScience and numerous others. A Vimeo Staff Pick of the month was awarded to the film and the Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door screened the film, including an interview.
Acknowledgements; Many thanks to: Ben Geutskens for sharing his knowledge about the biology and life cycles of salamanders: http://www.semperinmotus.nl/ My friends at the Dutch microscopy club NGVM: http://www.ngvm.nl Alex Kenter salamander breeder with endless patience in providing eggs. Huibert Boon for the audimix and foley http://www.boonbooy.nl/
Jan van IJken is a filmmaker and photographer from the Netherlands, working at the interface of art and science. His work is about the secrets of nature, microscopy, embryology and human-animal relationships.
Planktonium – Short film
about the unseen world of microscopic plankton
Planktonium - Photobook
Available in English and German
Becoming
Short film about the miraculous genesis of animal life
The art of flying
Film about starling murmurations
Nevermore
Film about the process of action painting
Facing Animals
Film about man and animal
Precious Animals
Photo project about the relationship between man and animal
New Neighbours
Photo project about twin cities in Netherlands and Eastern Europe
