© Andrew Davidhazy / Barcroft Media
Is this the craziest job in the world?
For full story and pictures:
Brainbox Andrew Davidhazy shows everyone that not all work is dull -
he shoots different kinds of fruit with a high-powered gun for a living.
When most people are stuck behind their desks Professor Davidhazy, 67,
is blasting everything from oranges to tomatoes with a high-powered
rifle.
© Andrew Davidhazy / Barcroft Media
In these mesmerising pictures the professional fruit-shooter – an
expert in high-speed photography – has captured with split-second
timing the moment the bullet passes through. The end result is a
stunning visual display as the fruit rips apart.
Amazingly the method perfected over 40 years by the Hungarian teacher
is so precise even the bullet can clearly be seen in several of his
photographs.
“My favourite is shooting with tomatoes,” he said. They tend to
acquire a very nice exit spray pattern.
“High-speed photography is a process for making visible events that
are generally invisible to us due to a very short time period over which
they happen.
“Humans have a difficult time analysing in detail anything that happens
in less than about 1/10 second.”
“Plus, of course, remembering all that happens even if one could
visualise a fast changing event is another matter as well. High speed
photography solves both these problems.
“It opens up for examination at leisure the behaviour of events of
extremely short duration – less than a millionth of a second in some
cases. Making high speed movies of high speed events such as flying
bullets is not something that just anyone can realise.”
© Andrew Davidhazy / Barcroft Media
The photographs are taken in a lab where the academic synchronises a
strobe light and camera with a single shot bolt action .22 calibre
Springfield rifle.
And it’s messy work where the professor is constantly forced to clean
all his equipment before he can continue with his crazy work.
He said: “After not too many shots the set where the subjects are
placed becomes rather covered in juice and orange or apple or tomato
remnants. We often have to stop and clean everything up.”
And to make sure he gets the best possible pictures he has to make
sure he selects the right fruit that will explode in the most
spectacular fashion.
“Generally I chose subjects that intuitively indicate to me that they
will explode in some impressive manner,” he said. “Some because they
are soft and juicy and others because they are hard and brittle.
Tomatoes versus potatoes for example.
Prof. Davidhazy is Chairman of Imaging and Photographic Technology at
the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York State, USA.
Words by Liam Miller
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