COLOR EXPLODES IN WONDROUS WATER WORKS NOW

MARK MAWSON

Color explosions underwater look like fireworks blooms in magnificent images by fine arts  photographer Mark Mawson.     

Mawson plays with colorful liquid dyes, inks, and paints, injecting them into clear water, and agitating them in a variety of of combinations and motions. Colors appear to explode and bloom, like fire flowers -- a watery interpretation of pyrotechnics.

"I want to take the viewer on a journey into an undiscovered alien or underwater world. The swirling and blending of a combination of coloured liquids resemble strange creatures or inter-galactic explosions and play with the viewer's notions of perception and reality," he explains.

Mawson’s award-winning liquid series, titled Aqueous, was shot over the course of 5 years.  

"Aqueous Roses," was inspired by the structural beauty of a rose. “Aqueous Fluoreau” expands on the theme. A video of the “Aqueous” series in motion was projected onto the walls of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert. 

Mawson has been taking photographs since he was 8 years old. He later studied photojournalism and went on to take photos for several UK national daily newspapers, including The Times, The Sunday Times, Today, The Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday.

Tired of photographing news and sport, Mawson moved into editorial and commercial photography for magazines and advertising agencies, where he had more freedom and range.

He was first inspired to shoot his liquid abstractions by watching the blooms created by the milk he poured into numerous cups of his daily coffees.

As an extension of his earlier “Aqueous” liquid series, Mawson worked with paint, ink and water to create more swirling floral forms. This “Flowers and Swirls” Series look less like explosions and more like mesmerizing spirals. Concentric rings of petal-like shapes unfurl from the center.

“Flowers and Swirls” was shot over a few days this past January. Mawson and his team experimented with a few different techniques, using pastel and complementary colors, capturing split second moments when colorful dye explodes underwater, creating gorgeous flares.

Mawson likes to experiment and try new techniques. “It makes me grow as a person and as a creative image maker,” he muses.

Much of Mawson’s work is shot with a PhaseOne XF camera, using Capture One Pro software to process the RAW files. The images were mostly all captured in camera, with an extremely minimal amount of retouching.

Mawson has earned numerous awards for his photography and his images are widely displayed in galleries and private collections worldwide.

You can see more of Mawson’s intriguing work on his website and Instagram page.

A book of Mark's Aqueous work is available through www.blurb.comLike exploding flowers? Check out the incredible photos by Martin Klimas in The Beautiful Motions of Explosions Now and more by Ori Gersht in Flowers Become Fireworks! Beauty Explodes!

Read more about Beautiful Explosions Fireworks in Visit the 10 Biggest, Most Beautiful Fireworks in the World, Flowers Become Fireworks! Beauty Explodes!, Wildflowers Bust Out in Epic Super Bloom After Drought Ends, See The Biggest Most Beautiful Kabooms in Canada!, Stellar Fireworks Outshine Everything on Earth Now! and Beautiful Fireworks Cocktails.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week! Now, it’s even easier to enter with the new BeautifulNow App!

Plus check out the rest of our App’s beautiful features. It’s free to download here.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
2. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
3. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls.” Series.
4. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous” Series.
5. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous Roses” Series.
6. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous” Series.
7. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous Fluoreau” Series.
8. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous Pastels” Series.
9. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
10. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
11. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous Fluoreau” Series.
12. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous” Series.
13. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
14. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
15. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Flowers and Swirls” Series.
16. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous Fluoreau” Series.
17. Image: by BN App - Download now!
18. Image: by Mark Mawson. “Aqueous” Series.