Flowers Under a Magnifying Glass

Inspired by the porcelain flowers under glass, I looked for a way to place my little dried flowers under glass or something which would represent the idea of a protective dome. I laid an old magnifying glass over them and then took photographs. This protected them to some extent but the weight of the glass squashed them slightly which of course can happen as a result of over protection. It also placed them under close scrutiny, magnifying their detail and sometimes distorting their shape and at certain angles they would appear to vanish completely.

Interestingly the magnifying glass changes the effect of the light but it also seems to intensify the colour of the flowers.

I used a wide aperture on some of the photographs, which increased the light and gave the impression of slight over exposure. I love the effect which this has but I also like the darker richer tones which are closer to the original conditions.

A buttercup and wild strawberry flower, not under glass, but thrown in for good measure.

I have taken hundreds of photographs of the dried flowers and these are just a few of them. Hopefully all of this inspiration will turn into some actual work, but as always the investigation and the development of the ideas is a very exciting part of the whole process. Who knows where it will lead.

Photos. Lynnette Miller

Immortelles

In this area there are still a lot of the glass domes containing porcelain flowers which were once left on graves. Most of them have a wire cover and many have broken, but surprisingly some are still
intact. I don't have a morbid fascination with grave yards but they are very interesting places, both historically and visually.

I was looking at the idea of  preserving flowers, such as pressing and drying them, when I remembered the Immortelles in the graveyards. There is something of Miss Haversham's bouquet about them, which gave me the idea of tying the dried flowers in little bunches. It is very inspiring but potentially quite a heavy and unsettling area to look into. For me it has a lot to do with the flowers themselves and the preservation of species and so on and our fear of losing the familiar.

Having picked daisies from the graveyards where I photographed the porcelain flowers, I dried some of them and pressed others. I think that they will become part of little books or boxes of some kind.

I also photographed some flowers from the garden, which look lovely when they are dried. The abundance of plants, both wild and cultivated, at this time of year is so inspiring.



Photos. Lynnette Miller

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