There is a vulnerable beauty in the fragile yet perfectly formed machinery within our bodies. Now, one London-based photographer has captured these structures in a series of captivating - and at times gruesome - images of the animal kingdom. From a fetal monkey to a cat's uterus during pregnancy, the photographs document historical dissections featured at the Royal Veterinary College London. London-based photographer, Michael Frank, has captured stunning images of the anatomy of various creatures. pictured is a fetal monkey . 'When you remove the entanglement of surrounding tissue and fat, you are left with something so pure and delicately artistic that is completely different from anything else I have ever seen,' photographer Michael Frank told DailyMail.com. Each of the specimens is stored in a formalin pot, preserving its intricate structure in incredible detail. 'On one hand, especially from the Royal Veterinary College's point of view, these images are designed to understand anatomy and with the help of digital imaging they will be now available to a vast audience of students and practitioners,' said Mr Frank. 'From my perspective, I wanted to create something that is so detached from academia and anchored in art that it will puzzle the viewer.' Each of the specimens is stored in a formalin pot, preserving its intricate structure in incredible detail. Conjoined twin piglets (left) and the cast of a cow's lung (right) can be seen here . 'When you remove the entanglement of surrounding tissue and fat, you are left with something so pure and delicately artistic that is completely different from anything else I have ever seen,' photographer Michael Frank told DailyMail.com. Pictured is a goat’s stomach . A goat’s stomach chamber (right) and a wallaby uterus (left). 'From my perspective, I wanted to create something that is so detached from academia and anchored in art that it will puzzle the viewer,' said Mr Frank . Each of the specimens is stored in a formalin pot, preserving its intricate structure in incredible detail. To create the images, the photographer used carefully constructed lighting on the pots to achieve a sense of the fragility of the membrane or tissue within. All pots were photographed with a Hasselblad 120mm and 40MP Phase One digital back on black background, and lit with three or four Bowens strobes. In one day, Mr Frank would normally photograph between 15-20 pots, with on average one day in post-production for each. The collections features images of a cow's heart, a goat's testis and a dog foetus, among others. His image of a pregnant uterus of a horse recently won the Wellcome Image Awards 2015. It shows the uterus of a New Forest Pony, around five months into the pregnancy, with the developing foetus still attached. Picture Editor of BBC Focus magazine, James Cutmore, who was a member of the judging panel said: 'The image of the horse's uterus with the foetus evokes many different emotions at once. It's fascinating, sad, macabre, almost brutal. 'Yet the subject is also delicate, detailed and beautiful. The image shows us a large and magnificent creature reduced to this sad, fragile and half-formed creation, which I find very humbling.' One of Mr Frank's favourite images is of the injected testis of a goat. 'This image grabs my attention because you can't tell what it is. It is when science becomes pure art,' he said . 'I don't see an injected testis; I can see a satellite image of a river.' To create the images, the photographer used carefully constructed lighting on the pots to achieve a sense of the fragility of the membrane or tissue within. Foetal membranes of a dog. To create the images, the photographer used carefully constructed lighting on the pots to achieve a sense of the fragility of the membrane or tissue within . The pregnant uterus of a red deer (left) and a cast of a goat’s lung (right). All pots were photographed with a Hasselblad 120mm and 40MP Phase One digital back on black background, and lit with three or four Bowens strobes . In one day, Mr Frank would photograph between 15-20 pots, with on one day in post-production for each. Pictured is a cow’s uterus . 'The pot itself obviously posed some limitations and some problems,' said Mr Frank. 'Scratches, diffractions and reflections on one side, dirt suspensions, colour cast through old formaldehyde or air bubbles on the other side. 'A large part of the work had to be done in postproduction.' All pots were photographed with a Hasselblad 120mm and 40MP Phase One digital back on black background, and lit with three or four Bowens strobes. In one day, Mr Frank would normally photograph between 15-20 pots, with on average one day in post-production for each. He hopes that 'like in a renaissance painting, [this art] will ask broader questions on life and its meaning.' Mr Frank hopes that 'like in a renaissance painting, [this art] will ask broader questions on life and its meaning.' Pictured is a cat’s uterus during early pregnancy . An injected testis of a goat (right), a horse's leg is pictured centre and a cow's leg is picture on the left. 'The [left image] image grabs my attention because you can't tell what it is. It is when science becomes pure art,' he said 'I don't see an injected testis; I can see a satellite image of a river,' said Mr Frank . This astonishing image of a pregnant pony uterus was selected as the winner for the 2015 Wellcome Image Awards. It shows the preserved uterus of a New Forest Pony, around five months into the pregnancy, with the developing foetus still attached. 'It shows us a large and magnificent creature reduced to this sad, fragile and half-formed creation, which I find very humbling,' said one of the judges . A cow's heart is seen here. 'On one hand, especially from the Royal Veterinary College's point of view, these images are designed to understand anatomy and with the help of digital imaging they will be now available to a vast audience of students,' said Mr Frank .
Images were taken by London-based photographer Michael Frank using Royal Veterinary College specimens . They include detailed images of a cow's heart, a goat's testis, pregnant uterus of a red deer and a dog foetus . 'Like in a renaissance painting, [this art] will ask broader questions on life and its meaning', Mr Frank said .