David Leaser - Flower Photographer Extraordinaire

Blue Moon by  David  Leaser

This is the time of year to savor beautiful flower photos....They bring us back to the blossoms that thrilled us in the garden in the warmer months.  In the winter, I often  have photos of flowers on my desk or on my wall to greet me and remind me of Nature's glories.

In this regard, I have to share with you the photo work of David Leaser. I met him last year at the Architectural Digest show in NY. He had an entire wall of phenomenal flower photos that stopped me in my tracks. The quality and imagery took my breath away.

It was in late winter and I stood there soaking in the extraordinary pictures.

These are not ordinary photos - Leaser uses NASA technology to create botanical images that have such detail that you can literally see the pollen grains on the flower stamens!  The photo above is a photo he took of a Jade Vine - a tropical plant - native to Philippine islands. David says that the iridescent turquoise coloring is unique in the plant world. Click here for more info.  

photo by David Leaser

He explained to me how he came to photograph flowers and  I could see David's enthusiasm for what he does in his telling. I never forgot it.  So you can imagine how I felt when I went to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, California this past September and saw 11 large David Leaser photos on the walls of one its buildings.

Here is a photo I took at the Huntington - see how large the photo is? and how luminescent it is?

David Leaser says that it was on a trip to the Amazon where he had an epiphany about flowers.  Here is a little of an interview he had with ABC.:

"I was in the Amazon photographing landscapes..... It is so peaceful and pristine. While I was there, I started to focus on the tiny flowers on the rainforest floor. I sort of had a “Horton Hears a Who” moment, because you can see complete ecosystems in these flowers – tiny insects and lizards that blend in and are hardly noticed.

A few days later, I was sitting in a café in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, when I had an epiphany: Lots of people are photographing beautiful landscapes, but what about those tiniest of flowers that are overlooked and even stepped on? Maybe I should try to elevate them to the point where they can be enjoyed and appreciated. " 

photo by David Leaser

Here is that same image - large - on a wall at the Huntington Gardens. It looked like it was glowing:

David sells his images - in all sizes and on canvas, aluminum and archival paper. It is quite impressive. Makes great gifts too!  They can offer you  25% off any artwork you buy from their website, excluding tax and shipping. Just  enter the discount code,  "jan25," at checkout.     Please check out his website for more inspiring photos...

photo by David Leaser