Projects Overview - Fine Art Photography

Photograph of pine tree cutting on yellow background. Botanical inspired photograph.

'Sun, Shadows & Little Trees' ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

In this series, plant cuttings are delicately balanced on coloured backgrounds, making sharp sun-cast shadows. These photographs explore the use of shadows as an important part of the composition. ⠀

They remind me of 'little trees'. ⠀

And with their delicate poise, I am reminded too of the concept of 'touching the earth lightly', (an ancient Aboriginal proverb). With climate change high on the agenda, this proverb inspires us to live and work in harmony with the earth, and to minimise our environmental impact. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Botanical still life photograph which features lots of small cuttings from over 30 different garden plants. Including flowers, leaves, weeds with roots, seed heads, tomato etc arranged carefully on a pale grey/blue background, flatlay style photogra…

Twelve Months Passing

In this series of photographs I explore how the plants in my garden change throughout the year.

As I tend the garden, I am fascinated to see the changes in all the garden plants. I see beauty in dried twisted seed heads, flower buds, fragile rotting fruits with papery skins and leaves ridden with holes from garden pests.

The work is made through the process of carefully arranging cuttings and plants in the studio, which I have gathered from my garden. Each photograph gives a sense of the garden at that particular moment in the year (one photo each month).  

My work is inspired by botanical reference books (which are familiar to me since childhood), such as 'The Concise British Flora in Colour' by W. Keble Martin.

This project was selected for the RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show 2020, in the portfolio category and was awarded a Bronze Medal.

Exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, London from 18th September - 9th October 2021.

View slideshow of this project.

Still life with flowers botanical photograph. Plants and flowers cuttings including pansy, radish flowers, dandelion seed head and more arranged carefully on a painted green background, flatlay style photographed from overhead

Still Life with Flowers
(colour in nature)

Inspired by the garden in winter, this series celebrates the often overlooked colours of buds, leaves and stems. In these carefully arranged compositions I explore the concepts of harmony and still-ness using the colour and form of common garden plants. Each month I gather a selection of flowers, buds and leaves, chosen specifically for their colours and I play with different combinations until the arrangement feels harmonious.

I'm interested in how I can use colour theory, working with the natural forms and colours of the plants contrasted against carefully selected painted backgrounds, to evoke moments of still-ness and calm, drawing the viewer in. I am inspired by the rich still life flower paintings of the 17th century.

See more from this series.

Prints are available in my online shop.

Photograph of handmade temporary sculpture made with natural found objects collected from a garden. Made from bark and several sead heads, wrapped together with coloured blue wool and standing on a pale blue surface.

Nothing Lasts Forever

In this series, I assemble and photograph things that I have found whilst walking in nature. In creating these images, I reflect on the fragility of nature and memory.

In producing these photographs (which are new objects), I extend the life of these things and perhaps also, my memories.

Photographs from this project have been selected for exhibition and publication. See my artist bio for more details.

Cyanotype print of yellow corydalis, a common garden weed with pretty leaves and trumpet shaped flowers. Blue and white colours.

Cyanotypes

I am currently exploring the cyanotype process, which I began during lockdown in March 2020. Cyanotypes are made without a camera and are a type of contact print- plant specimens are placed onto hand-made light sensitive paper and exposed using sunlight, and fixed by rinsing in fresh water.

I started making cyanotypes to contribute to a project called Quarantine Herbarium, which documents plants growing in the UK.

I am now collecting specimens for a new project. Follow me on Instagram to see work in progresses.

If you would like me to make a cyanotype of a particular plant, send me an email and we can discuss further.

Botanical inspired photograph of small bean seedling growing underground. The background is dark soil and there are roots of other plants growing nearby.

Digging

When Charles Darwin studied living things, seeing a specimen was never enough. He walked and talked with the botanist Henslow, he collected samples, and his ‘study and greenhouse were cluttered with pots growing’ things.*

In the garden plants adapt and evolve. I experience with joy and with trepidation the changing seasons, cycles of growth, the transient and unpredictable. Planting, protecting, weeding, and nurturing, I collaborate with nature and attempt to reveal something we cannot see, a hidden landscape of the physical and psychological.

In this space, time passes. Things live, die, decay and grow - and nature and culture play their part in the momentum of a never ending cycle.

This work was my final project completed during an MA in Photographic Studies at the University of Westminster.

Fine art photograph of nest like object on a white table cloth, with pale green/blue wall behind.

The Life of Things

In the traditional Vanitas still-life painting, everyday objects are painted with rich detail and texture producing a painting which is at once beautiful and of spiritual significance. Each object has a meaning and the collection of objects symbolise the impermanence of man and the futility of earthly pleasures.

Inspired by the Vanitas I am looking at the things that surround us. I photograph objects which I have bought, kept, collected, made, found and salvaged. How powerful can these objects be as images symbolising something that cannot be photographed?

'The Life of Things' aims to reflect the continuous cycle of life and can be seen as a metaphor for the journey of life itself.

This project has been featured in ‘Fauna and Flora’ online magazine and exhibited at the Crypt Gallery in London.

Selected photographs are available to purchase as limited and open edition archival prints (hand-signed Giclee prints). If you are looking for a specific photograph which you can’t see in the shop, please enquire by email about pricing and availability.