Swirling Veratrum
Alaska

20×20″ prints are $1,500
30×30″ prints are $3,000

While on my one month long photographic Alaska trip in June of 1993 I came upon a very large field of wild veratrum viride plants. I spent many hours looking among the thousands of growing plants for the best composition, ending up with two photographs with my Hasselblad including this one and two photographs with my 8×10 camera which included the photograph “Green Veratrum.”

The lighting was overcast and very soft but just right for this scene. The powerful shapes, tex-tures and shading within the plants themselves create a great sense of drama and depth. I used the 80mm lens on my Hasselblad camera with Fujichrome 100 film.

I printed this image for the first time in 2004. The Cibachrome prints require a very precise overall color balance so the warm and cool green colors are both rendered optimally. When just that right balance is achieved the dimensionality and tonality of each leaf and the entire scene is increased dramatically in an almost startling way.

Even when seen from across the room this Cibachrome print seems to glow with an inner light.