I love flowers and always have. From the time I was tiny two year old discovering flowers for the first time to now as an adult, I've always had an interest in flowers. Even though I grew up in New York City, I was always lucky enough to be around flowers. On the way to my favorite playgrounds, I used to pass a small garden. I have photos of me as a young child in front of this fenced in garden, I just loved those flowers so much. Surprisingly, this garden is still there and I always make sure to stop and see what they have growing.
Through the years I've always photographed flowers, but the photo marketing books always told me that photos of flowers were not high in demand. Since in my early years I shot film and found the costs prohibitive to just photograph things for my own enjoyment, I never fully explored the subject.
Once I went digital and was no longer restricted by film and processing costs, I felt free to shoot more experimentally. It started simple enough, capturing images of wildflowers and potted plants in front of restaurants and homes that I may pass by. But then with the encouragement of my late husband, I started buying potted plants. Tulips and hyacinths were first. A few weeks later I bought some more plants: gaillardias, begonias, petunias, & osteospermum daisies. More, more, more please. Geraniums, sunflowers, portulacas, impatiens. Oh, never enough flowers. Give me more! The colors, shapes and scents, I love them!
Three years later, I not only filled my porch with annual potted plants, but thanks to my wonderful late husband I was lucky enough to have a couple of gardens filled with perennial flowers that came back to visit me every year. I admit it, gardening is not my thing. My late husband did most of the work. But I totally reaped the benefits. I no longer in the house we shared and have since moved back to New York City. But my passion for flowers and flower photography remains.
Here are a few tips on photographing flowers:
