What about White?

 
 

Having made such a point last week about my love for intense color, it is ironic that “Limelight,” the principal edition I’ve worked on since last summer, features white flowers. In the visible spectrum of light, white is the mixture of all the wavelengths (white light passing through a prism divides into the rainbow). In the garden, white flowers are the antidote to color, providing my eyes with a place to pause and my spirit a chance to refresh. There’s still a surprising amount of color in a white flower, though. In the “Limelight” series, I photographed each flower in my studio, searching for hints of hue hidden in the white—yellow on a lily petal, lavender stamens on a gladiola, a blush of pink on the edges of a lace cap hydrangea. The green of stems and leaves—ranging from light yellow-green to dark blue-green—accentuated the garden freshness of the white. I used a vertical format to accentuate the length and shape of each stem. Photographed against a chocolate-black background, each flower stands out like an ingenue in the spotlight. 

When our excellent dentist, Dr. Jansen Woo, built his new office last year, he chose to decorate it with prints from the “Limelight” series. While providing strong focal points to his walls, the white flowers convey health, integrity, and a sense of calm.