Special Events, Tributes, & Collaborations: Orbital Blue

This project began with my friend Flexasaurus Rex, who many in the Tezos ecosystem know from his groundbreaking work with Tezos Vending Machine, also as a curator, collector, and artist. But long before NFTs, Flex spent years in the gem and mineral world. He showed me an extraordinary piece of Chiapas amber, once displayed in a museum and roughly the size of a dinner plate. At around 12 million years old, this stone glows with incredible shifting colors when light touches its surface. I was immediately excited to see the gem reveal its hidden spectrum, and even more excited to try capturing it through long-exposure light painting.

The photograph was created using only two sources of light: a powerful flashlight and a black light. With the camera shutter open for 30 seconds, the amber responded in surprising ways—producing tracers and colors usually only seen under black light. Minimal adjustments for brightness and clarity were made, but otherwise this is the raw image. No AI was used in the photography or the music.

Captured with a Sony A6000 and manual lens at f/11, ISO 125, the image was shot in total darkness.

The accompanying music was performed and recorded live using Arturia’s Augmented Mallets VST, played on the Arturia Keystep MIDI Keyboard, arranged in Reaper DAW, and shaped with Poortec EQ (Analog Obsession) and TAL Reverb. This project is both a collaboration with nature and a celebration of Flex’s dual worlds—minerals and art. Special thanks to Flexasaurus Rex for letting me photograph this amber three times. It remains the most beautiful natural object I’ve ever worked with.

I hope you enjoy it! _Fen

Minted for #1of1szn-Midnight Blue