Using a microscope, Polaroid 55 film which he then turns into a platinum print, Jan Schlegel's series "Life on Earth" focuses exclusively on phytoplancton, the very foundation and basis of life. It is the lowest level of the food chain and it is thanks to these microscopic plants that we are able to breath and live. Through photosynthesis, 80 percent of the oxygen is produced by plankton. Due to the pollution of our oceans, micro plastic, the increase of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and the effects of global warming, oceans have already lost 40 percent of plankton and it is expected that every year we will lose an additional 1 percent. The Atlantic Ocean is the most affected and marine researcher consider the Atlantic Ocean already as dead.

With this series Schlegel wants to show the beauty and uniqueness of Plankton. By giving them visibility, they are not an abstract concept foreign to us. There are many different kind, some bigger and some smaller but they all have one thing in common: we depend on them. All life on earth depends on them.
"It took 8 hours to arrange the plankton (micromanipulate) the way I wanted.

Phytoplankton store away carbon through a process called carbon fixation. During photosynthesis, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into organic carbon compounds, such as sugars and carbohydrates. Some of this organic carbon is stored within the cells of phytoplankton, while the rest is released back into the water as dissolved organic carbon."
Jan Schlegel