Floral photography has come a long way from static still-lifes. More and more, botanicals are playing a major role in the work of photographers around the country. As artists look to leverage the capabilities of more sophisticated lenses and advanced editing technologies, they are able to shed light on flowers in ways that capsulate their inherent beauty like never before.
Floral photography has come a long way from static still-lifes. More and more, botanicals are playing a major role in the work of photographers around the country. As artists look to leverage the capabilities of more sophisticated lenses and advanced editing technologies, they are able to shed light on flowers in ways that capsulate their inherent beauty like never before.
Detroit News reported that Laurie Tennent is one commercial photographer that has been focusing on these subjects. Her latest exhibit, “Botanicals,” on display at the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham, Mich., contains printed close-ups of flowers and other plant parts on gigantic aluminum panels. By using a scanner, Tennant was able to capture an exceptional level of detail, almost on par with the quality and depth that comes with using a large-format camera.
“Flowers are the most photographed things on the planet,”Tennent​ told the news source. “You have to do something different. By bringing them into my studio, I treat them more like botanical specimens.”
Laurie Tennant “Ranunculus”
The expansive, lush images of blooming buds, such as in “Magnolia,” pop against the stark black backgrounds, while a low depth of field gives the panels texture and varying focus. But the most amazing aspect of Tennent’s art is perhaps that according to Detroit News, none of the flowers have been edited in Photoshop or another digital-enhancing program.
Tennent is not the only artist that has been captivated by florals. In an interview with TIME Style, powerhouse fashion photographer Inez van Lamsweerde discussed her latest collaborative effort with Vinoodh Matadin: a study in both human and flower portraiture at the Gagosian Beverly Hills.
“It’s a very personal obsession with flower arranging,” she explained to the news provider. “It’s equally creative for me to put flowers together in a combination that’s exciting. Flower shapes, colors and personalities speak to me somehow. They’re very stark, but it’s a study in composition, in color, in abstraction, and at the same time in personality.”
INEZ VAN LAMSWEERDE AND VINOODH MATADIN
There are endless opportunities for photographers to try out as they begin to explore the astonishing qualities unique to botanicals.
