Rising gas

by The Raw World Atlas

A close-up view of the surface of a hot spring, with no horizon and no sense of scale. Dozens of pale domes rise from milky, blue-grey water; some are barely larger than a pea, whilst others have swollen into smooth hemispheres. In between, flakes of mineral crust drift in slow swirls, and patches of fine foam show where the gas is still breaking through.

These are bubbles of volcanic gas rising through mineral-rich water near Noboribetsu on Hokkaido, Japan. Each one lasts for a moment, grows and bursts, so the pattern in the image existed for only a fraction of a second. The soft colour comes from the dissolved minerals that give the hot springs here their milky appearance.

Without any point of reference, the image reads as pure abstraction: rhythm, repetition and texture in a narrow palette of sage green, light blue and stone grey. In landscape format, it makes for a calm, tranquil motif above the bed, in the bathroom or spa area, or in a minimalist living space featuring natural materials. As part of a series, it also complements the other views of the same area well. The subtle sheen of the bubbles and the delicate texture of the crust are shown to their best advantage on matt fine art paper.