Jonathon Singer Photography

Here's an example of Jonathan Singer’s photographs of rare flowers and plants,Botanica Magnifica. Singer’s color photographs are immediate and striking. Through the inventive use of low lighting, flowers and plants are isolated from their setting, captured in both exquisite detail and a rich luminosity. The images are fresh; the flowers become art objects, with their sculptural qualities highlighted. Much of Singer’s work in photography has been at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History. A set of his photographs was published in five lavish hand-bound volumes in the enormous “double-elephant” format. The publication, titled Botanica Magnifica, is modeled on Audubon’s magnum opus, The Birds of America ... done in very low light with a Hazelblad camera with a close-up lens. He footed the bill himself --- he estimates it cost $500-800K