THE BACK STORY
THE DREGS OF A FINISHED GLASS OF SCOTCH WHISKY
CAN YIELD WILD CELESTIAL SCENES.
WASHING DISHES—the most ordinary
of chores—led photographer Ernie
Button on a decadelong discovery of
a fantasy universe. While placing an
empty whisky glass in the dishwasher,
he noticed at the bottom a thin residue
of evaporated alcohol—specifically,
Scotch, the term for a whisky aged
more than three years in oak barrels
in Scotland. When the last drops of
alcohol dried up, they left sediment
from the whisky’s distillates. Button
took the glass to his studio, laid it on
its side, and took pictures.
The whisky-sediment patterns are
like snowflakes; each has a unique
design. They all, however, are light
gray until Button lights them with
multicolored lamps. The gray lines
and swirls spring to life and make the
rich designs resemble colorful land-
scapes of planets and moons. “I think
of it as drinks and a show,” he says.
Through trial and error, Button found
that only Scotch whiskies accumu-
late enough sediment. The oldest he’s
photographed is a 25-year-old whisky.
(Verdict: no big difference.)
In contrast to photographers who
shoot epic scenes in exotic locales, But-
ton looks inward and stays local. Before
photographing spirits, he created land-
scapes with breakfast cereal boxes
and chronicled the disappearance of
coin-operated rides at grocery stores.
Button’s work proves there are wild
things to be observed in everyday life,
even in dirty dishes. —DANIEL STONE
PROOF
“You just have to look closely” at the bottom of a whisky glass, says photographer Ernie Button.