The International Trophy float on the parade route during the 123rd Rose Parade presented by Honda on January 2, 2012 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Do tears of joy look the same as ones of woe—or ones from chopping onions? In “The Topography of Tears,” the Los Angeles-based photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher explores the physical terrain of one hundred tears emitted during a range of emotional states and physical reactions. Using a Zeiss microscope with an attached digital camera, she captures the composition of tears enclosed in glass slides, magnified between 10x and 40x. “There are many factors that determine the look of each tear image, including the viscosity of the tear, the chemistry of the weeper, the settings of the microscope, and the way I process the images afterwards,” she says.
Performers line up during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, February 23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Darron Cummings/AP Photo)
Alan Cumming and Uma Thurman attend the Versace for H&M Fashion event at the H&M on the Hudson on November 8, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images for Versace for H&M)
First lady Michelle Obama (R), joined by daughters Sasha Obama (C) and Malia Obama, is presented with the official White House Christmas Tree on November 25, 2011 in Washington, DC. The tree, a 19-foot-tall balsam fir, was grown on Schroeder's Forevergreens farm near Neshkoro, Wisconsin. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
A fan watches the pre-game before an NFL football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, November 26, 2023, in Indianapolis. (Photo by Darron Cummings/AP Photo)
The last of the summer roses are dusted with a coating of frost as the first freezing temperatures descend on Britain on November 7, 2011 in Knutsford, England. The roses are the last blooms to survive the Summer at Curbishleys specialist rose nursery in Cheshire. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)