Tulipa Exaruit.

Tulipa Exaruit. This Tulip is from the series of flower portraits I've made called Plantae Secreto. I was given some Tulips as a gift by my friend Veronique, who was a florist in Paris before she moved to the UK. She mentioned that Tulips are often more interesting to look at closely when they are past their best, rather than when fresh. I loved the idea of a faded beauty, so after the Tulips I've photographed many other flowers, some from my garden, some bought and some given. I used a type of light called a Beauty Box that is normally reserved for Glamour/Portraiture work because of the soft nature of it's luminescence and had a lovely time working with the various flowers that all had their own 'Personalities' which needed to be acknowledged as part of the process of getting the best that I could from the images. I'd had the idea to photograph flowers in a portrait style some time before the Lockdowns started, so when we were all cloistered away inside our homes it became the perfect subject matter to explore.