“I must have flowers, always and always.” – Claude Monet

Photography has enabled me to discover much of the world I have always been too distracted to see. Better late than another. I nod when I read Claude Monet’s claim that he must always have flowers.

I am surprised to discover that I am getting to be the same way. Every day, I wake up thinking about what flower I want to visit and with what lens, and I think about the genius of George Okkeefe. and her genius for getting right into the soul of flowers and re-imaging them in new and haunting ways.

Lately, some people have compared my photos to her paintings, which I understand is a generous oversight. But I greatly admire her work, a compliment, and comparison I never imagined and do not deserve.

I’ve been waiting all winter for my flowers and am out there daily, persuading them, inspecting them, keeping them warm, and figuring out how to best capture their magic. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the earth laughs in flowers; I know what he means too.

They lift me up and deeply into the core of imagination and creativity. How blessed I am to have finally found them. Here are three I visited today. Thanks once more for your kind and generous words. People are asking me when I will do a book on flowers.

I keep telling them that this is my book about flowers right here.

Tonight, a pansie up top, a tulip below, a marigold at the bottom.

 

I’ve added a tulip and marigolds to the garden beds; we’ve weathered the worst cold.