Excited to announce my Floral Essence series is now in print🌺.
This 7” x 7” monograph features 29 vibrant flower images across 42 pages. Available in softcover ($19.95) and hardcover ($39.95) plus $5 postage.
Sharing these images on social has been so rewarding, and now I’m thrilled to offer this curated print edition.
Share with someone you know who loves nature, flowers and photography.
Email me to order your copy and bring a touch of floral art home.
WayneEastep@gmail.com
Curated Collection of flower photographs printed in the monograph Floral Essence
Series: Floral Essence #8 Amaryllis
The series “Floral Essence” comes to a finale. A post about the Amaryllis feels like the perfect subject at the right time with which to conclude this series.
As holidays near, wax-dipped Amaryllis bulbs show up in the shops, ready to brighten the gray winter days with color.
Named from the Greek word for “to sparkle,” it is fitting that the Amaryllis blooms in winter, around Christmas.
Given their sturdy stems and vertical profile, Amaryllis symbolize strength, pride, and determination. When the flowering phase ends, you can cut the stem and preserve the bulb; it will flower again next year. With proper care, it can live for up to 75 years.
Thank you for following Floral Essence. It has been an inspiring journey through the language of flowers.
An exceptional monograph is on the way, stay tuned!
Back to work on a new series about a different subject.
To see these Flowers and more, visit my website at: www.wayneeastep.com
Amaryllis buds “to sparkle”
Series: Floral Essence #5
Snapdragons Dancing in the Wind
Practicing photography can be much like practicing meditation. Both invite us to slow down and truly see. They heighten our awareness, sharpen our attention, and help us become more attuned to the quiet details that often pass unnoticed. This image is an expression of that mindful practice.
While driving near Sarasota, a field of snapdragons caught my eye—just a glimpse of color in my peripheral vision. I pulled over, spoke with the property owner, and was welcomed to wander the field with my camera.
As I began photographing, a gentle wind set the flowers in motion. In that moment, I saw not simply a field of snapdragons but blossoms dancing in the wind. I worked to capture the movement of the wind through the petals—more than a still image, a sense of motion and energy.
This photograph is the outcome of years of patient observation and practice. It also reflects what happens when we allow the mind’s eye to see beyond what is in front of us—when imagination meets perception, and feeling becomes form.
This series of images is part of a larger collection called Floral Essence. I’ll share more about that in the near future.
To see this image and more flower pictures, visit the gallery Flowers at: www.wayneeastep.com
Snapdragons blossoms moving with the wind
Sunflower | Golden Ratio, Golden Bloom
Series: Floral Essence #2 Sunflower
As we were driving along the border of Kazakhstan toward Mongolia, we crested a hill. The field in front of us, all the way to the horizon, was filled with sunflowers as far as the eye could see. I had our fixer pull over. I got out of the jeep, went into the field, and made a series of images of the golden carpet of sunflowers in full bloom. It knocked me out!
Over the next couple of years, the magnificence of those sunflowers remained alive in my memory.
I wanted to learn more about sunflowers. My curiosity was not just about the beauty of their bright blossoms, but what they were all about. I ordered mammoth sunflower seeds, planted the seeds in a circle in my yard, waited, and watched. Over three months, I photographed the stages of growth from seedlings to decline. What I observed increased my appreciation for their beauty but raised even more questions.
Why did every flower develop a similar spiral pattern? Why were the seeds packed in so tightly and at an angle? My research revealed many connections between nature, mathematics, philosophy, and the rich history of intellectual inquiry — more on that in a later post.
The short-form answer to my questions is that the spiral pattern and the angle of the seeds in the sunflower represent the most efficient way to pack seeds in space and ensure reproductive success. The spirals are called “golden spirals,” reflecting Fibonacci numbers. The elegant angle of the seeds to each other aligns with the “golden angle’’. The pattern of the seeds in the sunflower represents what, in mathematics and aesthetics, can be called beauty — more on that in a future post. Leonardo Da Vinci described this phenomenon, which can also be seen in hurricanes, galaxies, pinecones, and pineapples, as the “Divine Proportions”.
One day, when the flowers were reaching maturity, I watched a pair of wild Brazilian Green Parrots as they fed on the seeds. The two parrots took up positions next to each other on two sunflowers. While one ate, the other stood guard, watching for any threat. After a while, they switched roles. The one guarding then ate, and the other provided protection.
Sunflowers blend mathematics and beauty
Spiral cherry wood staircase, one of a twin. Designed by Michajah Burnett for the Trustee’s house at the Shaker Village, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.
I was commissioned by Nikon to use all their lenses to show each to it’s full creative and technical performance. The 8mm fisheye lens proved to be a challenge because it drew so much attention to the technical characteristic of the circular format. I felt it easily took away from the engaging aesthetics of the subject. That all changed when I came upon this magnificent spiral cherry wood staircase. There was a match between the way the concept of the spiral was formed within the staircase and the format of the fisheye lens. This image is the result.
The image is part of a collection of images I’ve curated illustrating my signature style.
To order a print go to my online store: EastepStore.WayneEastep.com
Visit my image archive to see a full selection of images: WayneEastep.com
The single person descending the Great Pyramid at Giza illustrates how large the pyramid is and how small in the scheme of life we are.
A curated selection of my images can be seen and ordered via my online store: EastepStore
View my image archive on my website: WayneEastep.com
A person descending the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt.
Kazakh artists have appropriated the color red as a symbol for the vitality of life in their traditional art for millennia. This field of red poppies is in Ordabasy, Kazakhstan the place where the three major Juz or tribes came together to unify Kazakhstan in 1726 under the leadership of Abulkhair.
To order a print visit my online store: EastepStore@WayneEastep.com
Explore a larger collection of images at my website: WayneEastep.com
Field of poppies at the historical site of Ordabasy, Kazakhstan.
This Kiva was a ceremonial space at the Spruce Tree House. It was within the cliff dwellings built around 1190 A.D. by the Pueblo people in the area of the Mesa Verde.
Kiva Spruce Tree House.
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Kiva, ceremonial space of Pueblo people’s at Spruce Tree House in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.
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Approaching storm at sunset over the sawgrass of the Everglades.
DIY Home Decorating with peel and stick wall murals.
Are you a little quarantine claustrophobic? Get a new view with a vinyl removable print. Visit the Seascape collection at my online store: eastepstore.WayneEastep.com
Vinyl print creates a room with a view.
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