Flowers

Please scroll through the Flowers gallery to read my thoughts on these photographs.

Photographs of flowers have long been the subject of photography starting perhaps with some of the very first photographs ever produced. The images were in beautiful blues made by a fascinating woman  named Anna Atkins.  She self published one of the first photographically illustrated books in 1843, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. This was at the dawn of photography showing just one more beautiful application.

I don’t remember the first time I photographed using nature as my subject for a still life.  My mother tells me I was very young when I first tried to make my own version of Weston’s pepper. However, I do remember my BFA thesis under the guidance of Marcia Lippman of split toned roses, birds of paradise, and orchids among other wonderful specimens.  These photographs were heavily influenced by the great Robert Mapplethorpe flowers.  At the time I dedicated the thesis to one of my earliest mentors the great collector, Sam Wagstaff.

Today, I photograph still lifes of flowers. I see them in nature in my daily walks with my camera in the city. Flowers are generally easier to find in New York City than one would think.  Back in the 1980s I preferred the stark black background when the subject being the only feature in the image.  I have come to prefer the subject to work congruously with the entirety of the image in a complexity that adds to the beauty of the flower.  Most of all it pleases me greatly when a viewer’s mind wanders through each element of the photographs absorbing all the details and textures.

Purchases

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