Orchids are very cool, they have always been a favorite. So many different kinds of orchids in all shapes sizes and color. There’s something about them — elegant and fragile, — that makes them intriguing. They’re not the easiest plants to grow, which makes them more…mysterious.
Back in 2010, I found out about an orchid show happening in New York City. At the time, I was shooting with a Canon 5D Mark II, so I packed that baby up and headed out to see what I could see.
Luckily, I was able to go on a Thursday; weekday visits have their advantages — fewer people meant I could take my time and I had more space. Inside was calm and quiet, I meandered through the show multiple times, lurking, observing, looking for a common thread to pull — something that would work as a photographic series.
That’s when I noticed something strange, quirky, and a way kind of curiously fun.
Life amongst the Petals
As I shoot I often review the photos throughout the day, making sure everything is set perfectly. My preferred method of shooting is in manual, which gives you full control of the exposure, which is very important with difficult lighting conditions. While doing so this time, I saw what looked like little figures tucked inside the flowers. Faces. Limbs. Tiny little beings hiding in the middle of the flower. Once I saw them, I couldn’t not see them. They began to speak to me, but I cannot divulge the conversations due to Photographer – Flower confidentiality.
I started to focus on highlighting these miniature “creatures” — zooming in on their features and making that the main focus of the image. The Paphiopedilum (Orchid #4011 in this series), also known as the Slipper Orchid, struck me in particular. To me, it looks almost forlorn — like it’s dealing with some internal sorrow.
The Anatomy of an Orchid
Curious and hungry for knowledge as I tend to be, I did some digging into the anatomy of the orchid — what was it that I was photographing? Turns out, what I thought looked like little people centered in the middle of the orchid is what is known as the column, this part contains the orchid’s reproductive organs (the anther and stigma).Then you have the pedicel, peduncle, and inflorescence — terms that sound more medical than magical, but still fascinating in their own way. Seems funny to say the have reproductive organs, but there you are!
Aren’t they cute?
The parts that resemble little people became the main focus in these photographs. These little flower beings look like figures in dresses, or wear bonnets or have wings. In a few, some look like they have alien features. Some like Oncidium jiuhbao, (Orchid #3511 in the series) look like they have on a dress, or apron. If you let your imagination run wild, maybe you too will see what I am talking about. It was a lot of fun to go through these images and highlight this oddity.
Escape to Photography
The miracle of photography lets you step out of this world and into an entirely different one, one that exists right under your nose but often goes unnoticed. The framing of the image and the positioning of the subject matter can evoke an emotion, it could be happy, sad or be simply pleasing to the eye. When you have an image in front of you, use your imagination; you can see things that are obscure, or like me, things that are not there, like the flower people.