If you’re anything like our own area manager – if you enjoy science, whiskey, and photography – then today’s post is for you! Vanishing Spirits is a series of photographs by Phoenix-based photographer Ernie Button in which he explores what happens after the last drop is drunk in his macro photographs of evaporated single-malt Scotch whiskey.
The idea for this project occurred while putting a used Scotch glass into the dishwasher. I noted a film on the bottom of a glass and when I inspected closer, I noted these fine, lacey lines filling the bottom. What I found through some experimentation is that these patterns and images that you see can be created with the small amount of Single-Malt Scotch left in a glass after most of it has been consumed. The alcohol dries and leaves the sediment in various patterns. It’s a little like snowflakes in that every time the Scotch dries, the glass yields different patterns and results. I have used different color lights to add ‘life’ to the bottom of the glass, creating the illusion of landscape, terrestrial or extraterrestrial.
Many of these appear to beautiful abstract paintings, while others are indistinguishable from satellite photos of interstellar landscapes. Be sure to check out his site – he’s got lots more that are just as impressive.
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