FLOWER POWER

Pro photographer Andy Small shows you how to get stunning artistic floral shots in your home, garden and wildflower fields

- Andy Small

ANDY SMALL

Andy Small is a nature, landscape and macro flower photographer. He runs flower photography workshops for the Royal Horticultural Society at RHS Wisley in Surrey, UK, and gives talks to clubs and societies.

To see more of Andy’s work, visit: @andysmallphotography

www.andysmall.co.uk

During the past year many photographers have had to resort to finding their inspiration much closer to home. This has not been an issue for me as, for the past 30 years, I have ceaselessly explored the photographic possibilities of my garden and surrounding hedgerows in the Hampshire countryside in the UK.

As a fine-art photographer, my underlying approach has always been to use my camera as creatively as possible, exploring ideas for photographs that echo my appreciation for other forms of art, such as painting and drawing.

When I first started exhibiting my work in the 1990s many people couldn’t believe that they were looking at photographs. I assured them that they were, especially as this was before the days of computers, and at the time I was using film and chemicals.

Using my garden and nearby countryside hedgerows as inspiration means that I am never at a loss for photographic ideas. I also knew, from the beginning, that I did not want my images to be purely descriptive, no matter how alluring the subject may be. So I was drawn to the more intimate plants, avoiding the more showy specimens. Seed heads, and the different ways that plants have developed to disperse their seeds, have always fascinated me.