Session One: The Individual

The photographs I make of flowers are portraits. The best portraits always convey individuality as well as timelessness. I do not intend the image simply to represent a species. Portraits of a person often begin with an interview, and so it is with flowers. During the first of my series of free demonstrations at Benham Gallery, we had three distinct, single blossoms to work with: the Spider Mum, the Sunflower, and the Rose. We looked at them as individuals, both in terms of “attitude” and in terms of aesthetics.

We played with each subject in different settings and lighting types, but ever with an eye to overall impression: the spiky Mum, disheveled Sunflower and over-soft, full bloom of the Rose. We also examined each for obvious flaws: spots or marks, holes in petals or confusing asymmetries that might become distractions rather than assets in a finished print. In our next session we will look at issues of framing & composition, where the observations from our “flower interviews” will help us begin to make decisions about the perspective and tone and relative intimacy or the image we will make.

We will have new flowers each week, courtesy of Buckets (across First Avenue from the gallery), so those of you who missed Session One will have an opportunity to do some flower interviews of your own as we move on.