My Mother-in-Law died on January 27, 2016. She didn't "pass on" as some older people do, but she "died" in the way that you might imagine a tough, Ukrainian matriarch to go. My family, including myself, all felt the loss in our own ways. Shortly after she died, I noticed some wilting tulips in a vase on my dining room table. Unlike my Mother-in-Law, the tulips "passed on". It was a slow process; the flowers gradually changed colour, the stems became more limp, eventually heavily hanging over the vase, and I counted the petals falling day by day.

Under normal circumstances, I would have thrown the dying tulips in the Green Bin, but I had death on my mind and decided to capture their demise. I set up my 75-300mm Canon lens on the other side of the dining room table, as well as a 1K soft box photo light to add some contrast, and photographed the process over 2-3 weeks. It was January / February, and much too cold to shoot anything outside. In my prime, I was often shooting gold mines in Northern Ontario during these months, but times have changed.

When I first started this series of photographs, I figured that I must be the first and only photographer to take photos of dying flowers. However, I was quickly proved wrong! Photographers have been capturing decaying flowers for well over 100 years; even modern, pop-culture photographers like Richard Avedon have done it. I'm always hoping that one day, I'll discover something that has never ever been done before. I actually started taking "selfies" many years before they became popular and consider myself the unofficial inventor of the selfie.

Although capturing dying flowers isn't a new concept, it continues to excite me and I'd like to share these photos with you. Over time, my website has evolved to become a platform for more than just my High Park Photos, and I've shared other collections, including my photos of window frost, as well as my sun and moon photos.

I love taking photos of flowers, both dying and in their prime. Some of my most exciting times as a photographer have been spent waiting for the sun to produce the perfect light after being dropped off in a sunflower field in Tuscany.

Most of my photos of dying flowers were photographed at night time on my back deck in the Bloor West Village with my 1K soft box light, quite often against a black slate or rusted tile. It's been a bit of a pandemic project for me, similar to my Sun & Moon series and social distancing-friendly. One of my neighbours has been kind enough to pass on the odd dying bouquet.

By now you might recognize my website is in a bit of disarray, perhaps, but I keep shooting. I guess some photographers don't quit, and I seem to change direction, especially with the pandemic affecting us all. Last month it was SUN & MOON pics, this week it's Dying Flowers, recently named Doomed Blooms. And bit by bit, very soon, I'm saving these spectacular pics onto my website. My website has been a place where I'm showing more than High Park pics, so be it! I still sell High Park pics on my website, and I try to introduce new cards to stores who already sell my High Park cards. DOOMED BLOOMS cards are the same size as High Park 7"X 5" cards. SUN & MOON cards are smaller cards, 5.2" square and they are all the same prices, you can see the prices on my Main Front Page, without the 13% HST.

I don't do Credit Card or PayPal, I do cash or cheque.

Enjoy!



Doomed Blooms Picture Gallery