Most People Would See A Breathtaking Picture Of Space, But It"s Really Something Else

Photographer Navid Baraty’s photos look out into the vast reaches of space. Baraty’s work is littered with stars, nebulae, and distant galaxies. Mysterious planets that might hold life emerge from the blackness, reminding us that there may be countless worlds we’ll never see.

Actually, that’s what Baraty wants you to think.

Spiral galaxy

Planet

Icy planet

Baraty’s Wander series tracks the journey of an imaginary space probe called “WANDER,” which takes photos of equally imaginary alien worlds. In reality, Baraty creates these worlds using everyday household items and an open photo scanner. You would never be able to tell the difference.

Nebula

Globular cluster

Distant galaxy

Baraty creates the planets and moons by placing glasses onto the scanner. The glasses contain mixtures of half-and-half, coconut milk, water, and food coloring, giving them the swirling, marbled look of a gaseous planet. The stars are created by scattering salt, baking powder, cinnamon and crushed Tums across the scanner’s surface. Other images, like those of galaxies and nebulae, use cat hair, makeup, and silica gel. It all sounds like a mess, but the resulting images look strikingly like satellite images of deep space.

Planet with moons

Black hole

Nebula with gas streams

Baraty works as a photographer on a number of other projects, but the Wander series is something he continues in his spare time. It’s a little-known project, and you can see its progression on Facebook and Instagram. If you have a scanner and some spare time and cooking supplies, you can even try this out yourself.

Most People Would See A Breathtaking Picture Of Space, But It"s Really Something Else