Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon is one of my favorite photographers (so far). She is heavy on research and content, and much like Sternfeld, uses text to con....text...ualize her imagery. I was blown away by her series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar in which she documents subjects that lie out of view of the average American citizen from various domains including medicine, science, security, entertainment, government, etc. These images, while perhaps striking on their own, are made even more so by Taryn's eloquent text and dedication to research and curiosity. I think I'm a little bit in love with this woman. I highly advise watching her TEDtalk and witnessing her passion and intelligence. (Notice how the last image of nuclear waste just Happens to resemble the United States...Taryn mentions this in the TEDtalk).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Queens, New York
African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.
All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.

Dynamo III, Studying Magnetic Fields and Impending Pole Reversal
University of Maryland, Nonlinear, Dynamics Laboratory
College Park, Maryland
This is the largest model of Earth's core, consisting of a 10-foot-wide steel sphere filled with 14 tons of highly flammable liquid sodium representing Earth's molten iron outer core and a 3-foot-wide copper ball representing Earth's solid inner core. Built by geophysicists, led by Dr. Daniel P. Lanthrop, it generates its own geodynamo, a self- starting, self-sustaining magnetic field.
Like the Sun and Jupiter, Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that extends thousands of miles into space. This magnetosphere protects Earth and its atmosphere from ultraviolet radiation and highly charged, deadly particles. Earth's magnetic field makes a compass point towards the North Pole and guides animals on migration paths, thereby aiding reproduction and species' survival.

Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility
Cherenkov Radiation, Hanford Site, U.S. Department of Energy
Southeastern Washington State
Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.