Translucent Flora: Photographs by Harold Davis  

June – September 2023

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Join us for the Artists’ Reception on Sunday, June 11, 4-6pm

 

This beautiful new art exhibition features stunning botanical photographs by award-winning photographer and author Harold Davis. Using a special photographic technique, Harold Davis creates images of flowers and plants with an ethereal, translucent effect. The author of several books, his work is featured on two USPS Forever stamps.

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Artists' Statement

 

My work lies at the intersections of many styles and disciplines: between east and west, classicism and modernism, photography and painting, and the new technologies of the digital era blended with the handcraft traditions of the artisan.

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A great deal of thought goes into my work. I try to evoke a sense of serenity, wholeness, and wonder. My work can be experienced and enjoyed simply and organically for its structure and beauty. Sometimes I am also asking those experiencing my images to have the patience to contemplate–and perhaps even to resolve a visual puzzle.

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My work uses the latest technologies and also harkens back to classical traditions, including botanical art, Impressionist painting, and Asian art. I work hard to create meticulously hand-crafted prints from my imagery. Some of my printing substrates are newly derived, such as pearlized metallic substrate, and others are ages old and steeped in history, such as the Kozo washi I use.

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I have been delighted to find that I can combine my love of painting with my love of photography. My work often starts with multiple digital photographic exposures and then proceeds with digital painting on the computer. I take great pleasure in experimentation while using original, cutting-edge technologies. I was trained as a classical photographer and painter, but I now use advanced digital capture techniques that allow me to extend the range of visual information beyond what the eye can normally see.

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I believe that advances in the technology and craft of digital photography have created an entirely new medium. My years of contemplation have opened my eyes and my heart, and taught me to see more deeply. I use this alchemy of wonder to combine the traditions of painting and photography with new technology.

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As a gardener myself and artist with a deep love for flora and their structures and colors—as well as someone who loves books and libraries—I am deeply honored to have an exhibit at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture. 

 

About Harold Davis

 

Harold Davis is a world-class artist and photographer who has expanded the parameters of his field with imagery, new techniques, and as an author and educator.

 

Honored with the prestigious Photographic Society of America Progress award in 2022 for his development of a unique technique for photographing flowers for transparency, these works have been described as "ethereal" and having "a purity and translucence that borders on spiritual." (Popular Photo Magazine) 

Davis's most recent books include Composition & Photography, Creative Garden Photography, and Creative Black & White, all from Rocky Nook. In February 2023, the PSA Journal reviewed Composition & Photography, noting that "While the text is compelling, the photographs are stunning and invite the reader to read even more."

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He is also recognized as a master of black and white. The Seattle Times put it this way: "Harold Davis is the digital black and white equal of Ansel Adams’s traditional wet photography."

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In 2022, two of Davis's floral images, "Tulip Panorama" and "Sunflower and Friends," were produced as United States postage stamps.