Take a look at the following photo by Imogen Cunningham, a 20th century American photographer, who in the 1920s did a whole series of “botanical” photographs:

Imogen Cunningham: Leaf Pattern, late 1920s

Take a close look at that image. Do you see gray, black , and white leaves?

Now, would it surprise you if I tell you there are only the gray leaves are real? It’s true. The “black leaves” are shadows of real leaves, and the “white leaves” are the negative space between the real leaves.

Absolutely stunning.

Chris and I had the chance to go to Munich in April to see a retrospective of Imogen Cunningham’s work; the 170 works on display included the one above, which is one of my favorites. Cunningham was a working photographer for 70 years, active right up until she died at the age of 93, and the 170 photos in the exhibition covered the full breadth of her work. I’d never seen most of them before, and I hadn’t fully realized all of the types of things she done.

In seeing more or work – and the ways in which she liked to photograph the world, it turns out she and I have a bit in common. For example, there were photos from trips to cities, informal portraits of people, and self-portraits where she was seen in interesting ways in reflections in windows, or in a shadow. There was even this photo of a reflection in a puddle, a photo I don’t recall having seen before.  I’m certain she flipped upside down, just as I have been known to do on occasion. 😉

I’ve definitely take photos like that. I like how her photographic eye worked!

Anyway, her botanical series of photos are different from anything I’ve ever tried, and I’ve been intrigued by the idea of figuring out how she did that. Members of the photography group Chris and I started here in Tübingen felt the same way, and together we picked “Cool Plants” as our theme, inspired by Cunningham’s work.  My first attempts at this genre are below. They have a long ways to go to even approach the level of Cunningham’s photos. But then, she probably knew better than to do any serious attempt at getting interesting leaf shadows on a day that was pretty much gray and cloudy, with only very sporadic hints of light from the sun. But that’s the kind of non-sunny weather we’ve been having for weeks now here in Tübingen, so it’s not like there’s been a chance to try this kind of sun and shadows work on a bright sunny day here.

Then again, Imogen Cunningham lived in Seattle, and I’m guessing there wasn’t  a lot of sun there most of the year, either.

Anyway, my consider this my first work done specifically as an homage to Imogen Cunningham. Enjoy.