In my last post, I introduced my new series, Winter Tulips, and I showed one of my favorite photos from that project. In this post, I discuss some of the roadblocks I have encountered, and present a partial collection. If you want to learn more about my process as I wrapped up this series, keep reading.
Below I write some considerations about my process. But, before I begin….
A SHORT CLARIFICATION ABOUT WORKING IN SERIES
This is my second set of posts about working in projects and series, and somehow, I feel that I have failed to communicate why I do this. Most importantly, I want to make sure that everyone understands that working in series does not limit my creativity. Also, I am NOT trying to tell other photographers that this is how they should work. Like everybody else, I sometimes go out for random photography, and I do experiment with different techniques and post-processing. However, concomitantly, I endeavor to explore certain concepts and subjects in more depth by working in series.
What is an art series?
A series of paintings, sculptures, or photographs is a collection of works that is connected by a thread. The main theme, and other common elements that compound this “thread”, are stated, and re-stated in every piece.
The thread connecting the Winter Tulip series
All images in this series portray a tulip, or part of a tulip, against a grey to black background. Additionally, I used a type of selective lighting. These are the physical connectors in this series. The concept behind it is the eternal cycle of life and death all living things are subjected to.
ROADBLOCKS
On my last post, I wrote about feeling temporarily uninspired and discouraged from this project, and I gave a few reasons for it, such as the lack of a steady supply of tulips to photograph and feeling defeated in photography. Added to that, the looming pandemics and all the politics influencing public health decisions have not helped my state of mind. Regardless of the cause, I have found it difficult to concentrate on Winter Tulips in the same manner that I was able to concentrate Dry Leaf, another project of mine.
A word about centering the subject
One of the mental roadblocks I encountered during the making of Winter Tulips is that, in the back of my mind, I was self-conscious about centering the subject. Photographers, particularly those in juried panels, look down on this type of composition and let you know, one way or another, that you are not in compliance when you center. This unnecessary prejudice, which has taken roots in photography for no good reason, ends up ruining a lot of perfectly good photo ideas. Of course, sometimes, and oftentimes, the dead center is not the best place for your main subject. This is particularly true when it comes to more complex scenes with more than one element. There are times, however, when centering your subject is the right thing to do! Even though I know this, I was deliberately trying to add some diversity in composition to some of the photos in the series, to please others. And that has come in the way of my creativity.
CHOOSING THE PAPER
Keeping in mind that a print is the final medium of a photograph, I decided to do a little investigation on how my tulip photographs look like on different fine art papers. Although doing this is part of the process, I must confess that I got way too caught up in it. I have been using the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for my botanicals (thanks Howard, for the suggestion), but for the tulips, I wanted to try a few different matte papers, as a learning exercise. Since Finerworks had a series of discounts between thanksgiving and the first week of January, I ordered different 8 X10s from them to see if there were significant differences among the following three papers:
- Fine Art Paper Velvet;
- Watercolor Bright White;
- Hahnemühle Photo Rag.
After comparing and contrasting those papers, I opted again for the Hahnemühle Photo Rag. All papers yielded beautiful results and differed very little. The Watercolor Bright White is, well, whiter than the others. It has a nice texture, and the photos look a little “cooler” on it. Although I will be using it for my high key photos, in which white predominates, I liked a light touch of warm when it comes to the tulip series. In this regard, the Photo Rag and Fine Art Paper Velvet were similar. The later, however, has more pronounced texture, and I felt that less texture, as in the Hahnemühle Photo Rag, looked more desirable. Unfortunately, the paper I like the most is also the most expensive of the three options.
The photographs in the series will print 20” X 30 “ or 30” X 20 “ at 300 dpi.
WRAPPING UP
- Starting December, 2021, I got the idea to photograph tulips, concentrating on the curves of their stalks and leaves and how they complemented the flower buds;
- I researched the work of other photographers, to make sure that I was not going to be repetitious;
- I started my project and decided that I wanted a gray to dark gray background and softer depth of field;
- The series gained its own life and evolved into a story of sorts, featuring the various stages of the life cycle of a tulip flower;
- I tried different papers with a matte finish and decided on the Hahnemühle Photo Rag, which has a slightly warm tone and a pleasing texture that complements, rather than distract, from the details in my tulip images;
- By the end of January 2022, I uploaded 10 photographs in black and white and one in color, six are landscape and five are portrait orientation. All will print 20X30 at 300 dpi. The series has been posted on my Portfolio.
RESOURCES
Digital Photography School has an article summarizing the benefits of and giving tips about working in projects, if you are interested: How to start and finish a photography project.
Art Business.com has an interesting article about the” Advantages to bodies of work over single pieces.
Canva.com has an article with seven photo series ideas to inspire you.
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It is all about the light 
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