To Photograph a Flower is to Photograph Death

"To photograph a flower is to photograph death" is a series looking at flowers through the lens of mortality; because they are in their last moments, each image becomes an elegy. The flowers seen here are found on NYC streets, whether in tree beds, landscaping, or anywhere else that I find. Most passerby’s don’t even pay attention to how many there are, and they exist for beauty’s sake. I chose to focus on street flowers because they’re common and you don’t think twice about them. They exist for a moment, and then they’re gone; similarly, as are we. Photography acts as antithesis to this. I began this series after reading Tim Carpenter’s “To Photograph is To Learn How to Die,” since looking for beauty for beauty's sake. When I think of beauty, I think of flowers. My work is guided by the understanding that all I will ever do is attempt to capture time. The photograph is here for a moment, and then it’s gone; the act of seeing becomes a rehearsal for letting go. With meditations on our fragile corporality, and how the photographer lives forever, this series asks to sit with a confrontation of mortality, and the cyclical nature of time.