Logging countless hours behind an X-ray machine, Nick Veasey illuminates the labyrinthine secrets hidden beneath the exteriors of everyday objects.

Why you should listen

Toiling over 14-inch sheets of X-ray film in a hangar in Kent, photographer Nick Veasey has revealed the shadowy interiors of objects as diverse as vacuum tubes, bulldozers, jet airliners -- even fresh cadavers. By his own estimates, he's photographed thousands of everyday items, often arranging them into tableaux that are at the same time familiar and luminously alien. They reveal surprising details and prove that items have an inner beauty.

His book X-Ray: See Through the World Around You showcases dozens of these photographs. Despite the painstakingly technical nature of the medium (an image of a Boeing 777 required a patchwork of 500 exposures), they radiate from the page with stunning, phantasmagorical delicacy.

What others say

“Not many photographers need a linear accelerator. But Nick Veasey isn't your average shutterbug. Instead of tweaking f-stops and light boxes, he fine-tunes the speed and frequency of energy pulses emitted by a Russian-made tabletop particle turbocharger.” — Lucas Graves, Wired

Nick Veasey’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Nick Veasey

Nick Veasey at TEDGlobal 2009: Running notes from Session 9

July 23, 2009

Running notes from TEDGlobal 2009, Session 9. Nick Veasey uses X-rays to create photographs that reveal the inner workings and structure of objects such as shoes, a city bus, a tractor, a bat … and men’s briefs. (He calls the men’s briefs “exquisite.”) Instead of focusing on solely biological entities, he also looks into (looks […]

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Twitter Snapshot: Nick Veasey reveals what's on the inside

July 23, 2009

Nick Veasey creates art with x-rays to expose the hidden interiors of everyday objects, including clothing, dolls, computers, leaves, and even… cadavers! Veasey reveals the surprising beauty and intricate structure of the mundane. His newest project: sawing a MINI Cooper in half and pasting inside a compilation of x-ray images of all of the parts! […]

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