Plants are among the oldest and most enduring artistic subjects. At its core, botanical depiction is a marriage of art and science. Aside from identification purposes, it also acts as a record of plant species as they interact with humans. By combining detailed renderings of both common and rare plants with their beneficial or detrimental properties people have been able to study plants they may never encounter in real life. The oldest known collection of plant illustrations, the ‘Gart der Gesundheit’, dates back to 1487 and details the medicinal properties of over 380 old-world plants common in medieval Europe. As people began exploring more of the world, botanical drawings followed. Naturalists meticulously cataloged the flora they encountered. The so-called ‘golden age’ of botanical art occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria “when wealthy patrons, skilled artists, new plant discoveries, and a scientific desire for knowledge coincided.”[i] Since then botanical art has consistently evolved resulting in hundreds of unique collections that define the stylistic and floral status of every era.
Following in the footsteps of many artists before us, our work began as a simple record of the flowers we found growing nearby. We quickly came to realize that each wild plant we photographed has a significant historical and environmental connection to the settlement and ecology of North America. Often ejected from gardens, native and naturalized plants and their applications have been virtually forgotten by recent generations. Documenting botanical specimens on a blank background is a stylistic method that has been used for centuries, but unlike the artists before us who catalogued new species of tropical flowers, we are rediscovering plants that have been overlooked in our own backyard. As truly wild spaces dwindle and the changing climate further stresses already vulnerable native species, it is more important than ever to document these plants and remember their places in our collective history.
The heart of our photographic process is a technique called focus stacking. This is a computer-based technique which combines multiple images taken at different focal distances to give the resulting combined image a greater depth of field than any individual images. The starting point for focus stacking is a series of images captured at different focal depths; in each image different areas of the sample will be in focus. While none of these images has the sample entirely in focus they collectively contain all the data required to generate an image which has all parts of the sample in focus. The in-focus patches are then blended together to generate the final image.”[ii] As many as 300 individual images may be blended for any given subject. Though highly manipulated, the resulting image more closely mimics what is seen by the naked eye than any single image capture.
[i] Martyn Rix, The Golden Age of Botanical Art
About Us
Stephen Brewer, MD, FACS
A childhood fascination with photography became a lifelong pursuit when, at age 16, Steve received his first ‘serious’ camera – a Yashica 35mm rangefinder. A serendipitous sunset over a neighbors’ lake with the reflection of a barn in the still water is still his favorite image. Now a retired genito-urinary surgeon, Steve has ample time to tend to new projects. Self-taught over 50+ years, he has circled the world twice and never stopped shooting.
Claire Brewer, MLA, PLA
In 2011, after earning a degree in International Relations with a minor in Photography, Claire began shooting in collaboration with her father. Their project, North American Flora, began and continues as an avocation. In 2019 Claire obtained a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University. Claire is a licensed landscape architect practicing in Cleveland, OH.
Awards
Best in Show, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA, 2013
First Place, St. James Court Art Show, Louisville, KY, 2013
Best in Show, Black Swamp Arts Festival, Bowling Green, OH, 2012
Merit Award in Photography, American Founders Bank Woodland Art Fair, Lexington, KY, 2012
3rd Place in Photography, Crosby Festival of the Arts, Toledo, OH, 2012
Outdoor Exhibit Award, Wyoming Art Show, Wyoming, OH 2012