Alan Sayler and Photos at the Time of the Explosion

Alan Sail­er is an artist spe­cial­iz­ing in high-speed pho­tog­ra­phy. He has a pen­chant for shoot­ing, as well as explod­ing things like fruit, house­hold items, and all sorts of toys he finds at flea mar­kets, home sales, and thrift stores. He care­ful­ly pho­tographs the process of the explo­sion, con­vey­ing in detail the moment of the imme­di­ate destruc­tion of the object.

All of Alan’s work is done in his garage, using a home­made high-speed flash device based on blue­prints from a 1974 sci­ence mag­a­zine.

The results of his pho­tog­ra­phy speak for them­selves. Here are only two dozen inter­est­ing pho­tos from more than a thou­sand shots of an explo­sive pho­tog­ra­ph­er. For a change, I advise you to also vis­it the selec­tion of cau­li­flower explo­sions from Brock Davis

Here’s how Cor­ral’s col­ored pen­cils explode:

Farewell to the plas­tic toy:

Jour­ney to the plan­et of frozen straw­ber­ries:

Choco­late Bun­ny Dam-Dam:

Mush­room Cloud:

Too much ener­gy in a drink:

Lychee Det­o­na­tion:

Explod­ing Lol­lipop:

Bul­let hit­ting glass

Explo­sion for Christ­mas:

Fire pow­er:

Raw Egg Explo­sion:

Pur­ple mist:

Fun­ny Explo­sion Shapes:

Alle­go­ry with an alli­ga­tor:

This jel­ly will nev­er be the same again:

See also pho­tos of explo­sions by Jef­frey Short, anoth­er pyrotech­nics lover