Honorable Mention TOKYO-2016 Nature / Flowers

Tulipmania

  • Photographer
    David Leaser

In 1637, the Dutch economy was brought to its knees and nearly collapsed because of a flower: the broken tulip, a flower with vivid striations and variegated petals. Speculators had driven the prices up so high, a single flower bulb could sell for the price of a small town. After the collapse, tulips became, understandably, unpopular, and many of the most magnificent specimens were lost to cultivation. A few survived, handed down from family to family, but most people have never seen these heirloom flowers. In this collection, I sought to introduce these exotic flowers through the medium of photography. Finding these bulbs, nurturing them and photographing their emerging flowers has taken years. Several images, with their distinctive blood-red flames, are similar to "Semper Augustus," once the world’s most sought after flower. The collection includes a limited selection of images of tulips, each selected for its unique sense of movement and flow. When you gaze upon “Tulipmania,” you are transported to the tulip fields of the Dutch Renaissance, where tulips rose from their status as wildflowers to one of the most sought-after and iconic flowers in civilization. Employing modern technology, I layered together dozens of images in focus stacks to achieve a bees-eye view showing the intricate details and forms of flowers.