Photo story: X-ray vision

Ever noticed how funky and sci-fiyour hairdryer or your toiletry bag looks as it passes through the airport security scanner? Photographers Hugh Turvey and Artemi Kyriacou have turned x-ray into an art form…

 

“Stiletto” 1998

Photographers Hugh Turvey and Artemi Kyriacou like to get right inside their subjects. As husband and wife team Gusto Images, they create eye-catching artworks from all sorts of everyday objects—from the humble cabbage to a full sized Ducati motorcycle—using x-ray photography techniques similar to the kind employed by airline security. “By using this technique outside of its usual scientific application, our art is able to go where normal photography can’t,” says Turvey. “We can get inside, see the unseen, and explore the heart of the matter, literally.”

The couple made their first foray into x-ray photography 10 years ago when a record label asked them to supply an x-ray image of broken bones for cover art. “We got in touch with the Science Photo Library [a major photography stock house for scientific images] and that’s when we realised this type of specialist imagery could be successful,” says Turvey. They followed that project with a series of xray shoots of ordinary objects and that’s when the x-ray vision began to take over. Private collectors across America have been snapping up Gusto’s inside view of the everyday, and the team now has a permanent exhibit at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute.

 

“Blow”

 

“’Laynes Lily on white”

 

“Transportation”

 

These striking images may look similar to airport security screens, but creating a quality image is a little more complex than taking a straightforward x-ray photograph. As Turvey explains, the process relies on a mix of x-ray and traditional photography: “Airport x-ray is a low resolution process designed to highlight areas of high density. The x-ray process is in grayscale and the software on the x-ray machine will artificially colour those areas of high density to draw the operator’s attention.

“In this respect, we do something similar when we create the images—we add artificial colour to draw the viewer’s eye and enhance areas of interest within the image—but we produce high resolution x-ray using 14"x17" film and digitize it.”

Next time you go through airport security, why not take a good look at the screen. Maybe your luggage has what it takes to become a modern masterpiece. For more information on Gusto Images, to buy a collector’s edition print or greeting cards, visit www.gustogallery.com

“Lilies”