Peter Kaaden's inspiration for his series Zuh Nah ("Too Close") came during a dental exam.
As chance would have it, his dentist was eager to get rid of some outdated equipment and gave him a Yashica Dental Eye, a film camera with a close-up lens and integrated ring flash made for photographing teeth. In Kaaden’s hands, the camera became a tool for photographing all sorts of things up close. "Sometimes really beautiful things look really terrible that close, and some really not interesting things look amazing,” he said.
Fascinated by the camera's unique micro-perspective, Kaaden began collecting other cameras with medical applications and now has nearly 25 of them.
More from the WIRED Sex Issue:Penile Strain Gauges and Other Strange Devices of Sex ScienceVirtual-Reality Porn Is Coming, and Your Fantasies May Never Be the SameYour Dick Pics Are About to Be All Over the InternetOne day, Kaaden was working with one of those cameras when he snapped a picture of a mussel. He showed the photo to editors at Vice, who encouraged him to photograph visually similar objects. Some of the images may bring to mind the work of painter Georgia O'Keeffe or the legendary Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. Kaaden had a great time just looking at segments of grapefruit and button holes. “It was super stupid and so weird, but it was fun,” he said, "It's so random. I think it's the easiest idea I've ever had."
Kaaden took about 50 images of food, clothing and even technological gear. Once he started looking for images for his series, he saw them everywhere he went, including the local sandwich shop and the grocery store. He even saw them at the fish market, and once attempted to shoot a bunch of fish at his studio. “It smelled really disgusting afterward,” he said.
As the series has gained popularity, reactions have been mixed. Some appreciate the simplicity of the concept, while others think it's juvenile. Either way, Zu Nah seems to have a nearly universal fascination for viewers. “I think that's pretty human,” Kaaden said. Of course, any conclusions you draw from his photos of fruit, fabric and even computers are entirely your own.
