9
GRANDIFL RA Grandiflora, Viking/Penguin 2000 Grandiflora Arrangements, Lantern/Penguin 2007 My wife Saskia is the über florist of Sydney and has a shop called Grandiflora. She was always telling me to “sniff this flower” and “have a good look at just how beautiful this bloom is.” She inspired me to do individual portraits of the myriad of flowers that came into her shop. As with all my projects, I am attracted to the beauty in things, so every few days for four seasons I would choose the specimens that caught my eye and take them home to shoot them on my 4x5 camera. The end result was a lavish coffee table book called Grandiflora. The second book was a deeper collaboration between Saskia and I. Inspired by her passion and creative skills, I photographed floral arrangements created in the shop in individually styled settings where every element in the image, including the vase, background and foreground, was integrated.