Poppies by Andrew Wilkinson

KALEIDOSCOPIC

Dangerous Blossoms was an art exhibition at the DR Greenway Land Trust in Princeton NJ. The concept of the show was to display invasive and poisonous plants – I really loved the idea and was thrilled to be asked to participate. I re-worked the poppy series I began a while ago. This time I think I did a better job with the process.

This series titled ‘Kaleidoscopic Poppies’ is a study in simple flower photography and digital manipulation to create patterns from the base image. The same image, mirrored and folded digitally multiple times produces designs as if seen through a kaleidoscope. I always loved the colors and twisted wiggly stems of poppies. I set out to create my own set, but with a twist – and came up with some fun titles as well.

One of things I really liked about this project, in particular the ‘Be A Wall Flower’ image was the idea to challenge traditional composition. The flower image is cropped intentionally to grow out of the right side of the frame. When I did that, it made me feel like I’d been a bit square and ordinary with previous compositions. Glad I learned that!