A Child Is Born

at 4 months

When the pioneering medical photographer Lennart Nilsson first published the images from his photo study of the process of human life from conception to birth in 1965 they caused nothing short of a sensation. For the first time, these powerful images detailing a sight that had not been seen before, people had a chance to witness the spectacular and delicate power of life at it's earliest stage. When first released to the public via LIFE Magazine (remember that?) it was reported that something like 8 million copies were sold in 4 days. In the four decades since that debut the images have lost none of their wonder or power, even if we have become accustomed to such insights.

floating in space

For those of you about to have your first child.... no wait, for anyone who understands how special having a child is, the images in his series of photographs provide an overwhelming evidence of how fulfilling the process of birth really is - how special life is. With the change of season into a bit of a colder and darker period for many of us - it's a great 'pick-me-up' when your feeling a bit blue!


Now in his 80's, Nilsson's long award winning career as a photographer has seen him develop his ongoing fascination with the human body and nature, right down to the cellular level - revealing images that could never have been seen with the naked eye before. For more information about the artist and his long list of accomplishments you can check out his website
at www.lennartnilsson.com and view many more pictures associated with his studies. But, if you really want the full sensation of his images you should get yourself a copy of his recently published 4th edition of his popular book A Child Is Born. You can go here to see a list of his other books. Forty odd years on and it has still not lost any of it's original wonderment.