A FLOWER A DAY
Nigella
Albizia
1. How did you come the idea of taking pictures of the flowers?
Around 2015 or so I read an article titled "Time Well Spent" by Tristan Harris, a former Google employee, about how technology is "downgrading humans" and how we basically waste our time with bullshit stuff on our mobile screen. At the same time there was a study by Nokia highlighting that the first thing most smartphone owners do when they wake up is to check their screen. I thought, this is it - this is where you need to be with something generic and beautiful: Wake up with a flower, and feel the power! That's how I started the Flamboyant Flowers Project and initial App - with the only objective to show a beautiful flower on your smartphone everyday. But I did not (yet) have the pictures...so after a while I started to get into Macro photography and to shoot pictures of flowers and gradually discovered a new world...
Anemone
Phacelia
2. What is the meaning of single flower?
All flowers are unique, different and beautiful. While there exists cryptological communication through the use and arrangement of flowers (Floriography) I personally do not attribute any meaning to flowers. They just are (beautiful). However, flowers have a pretty transcendent and reconciling, grateful and positive meaning as throughout the world they are being used for all kinds of celebrations such as births, anniversaries, celebrations, weddings as well as funerals. Beside this there is of course also the biological function of flowers to attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies, hummingbirds etc. in order to produce seeds, fruits and vegetables.
Astrantia_
3. What inspired you?
Photographic pioneers such as Karl Blossfeldt, snowflakes photographer Wilson Bentley as well as Japanese floral artist Makoto Azuma, Andy Warhol or even Pedro Almodóvar are probably the main inspiration for Flamboyant Flowers.
Hydrangea
Centaurea
4. What do flowers have that allows us to talk about "portraitality": their character, a certain state, freshness or withering, a certain angle in which you want to submit it?
I have done over 10000 "portraits" of flowers over 5 years and over time I realized that each flower has its own particularity, beauty and style. While some flowers will provide a very good "portrait" from a frontal perspective, others might actually be more attractive if shot from the back, from underneath or from a very weird angle. Many shots reveal the unseen or unnoticed and thus are going beyond the obvious. There are some classic "top models" but also plenty of quirky and sophisticated beauties.
Echinacea
3. What inspired you?
Photographic pioneers such as Karl Blossfeldt, snowflakes photographer Wilson Bentley as well as Japanese floral artist Makoto Azuma, Andy Warhol or even Pedro Almodóvar are probably the main inspiration for Flamboyant Flowers.
Coreopsis
5. You have taken 365 photos - that's a lot. How many flowers are registered in the atlases? Do you continue to shoot?
I still feel very attracted to flowers and discovering flowers and wondering how to capture their uniqueness and beauty in a single picture. However, I feel I need to take some distance to flowers right now and recently started a new project called "Flamboyant Candy" which consists of Macro pictures of candy. It's related, as like flowers, candy is quite often something we do not fully look at in detail but rather quickly put in our mouth and just enjoy 😉
Xerochrysum