Synopses & Reviews
Flying Flowers is an exquisite collection of intimate and up-close images of living butterflies by renowned nature photographer Rick Sammon. A mediation and celebration of one of nature's most beautiful creatures, Flying Flowers takes the reader on a visual journey into the miracle of transformation. The butterfly, with its amazing metamorphosis from a crawling caterpillar into a vivid and graceful winged creature, symbolizes the infinite potential within every living creature to evolve: from darkness into light, ugliness into beauty, lethargy into activity. The life of a butterfly is a coming of age story in the most profound sense. As such an exotic metaphor for transcendence and renewal, the butterfly has been celebrated in art, literature, dance, fashion, myth, and spirituality throughout history and in cultures around the world.
Using groundbreaking digital photography, Sammon offers us a new view of these delicate insects in their natural habitat. "The ability to see every shot immediately on my camera's LCD monitor allowed me to make critical exposure and lighting adjustments on site," explains Sammon. "That was of the utmost importance, due to subject movement, changing lighting conditions and the reflectivity of some of the butterflies."
The result of over a year's work on the subject, these luminous portraits come together in Flying Flowers like a Technicolor bouquet. From Mourning Cloaks to Hummingbird Moths, dozens of species are represented and identified with brief informational captions. Photographed in extreme close-up and stunning detail during all stages of life-emerging from the cocoon, taking flight, migrating in mass, or simply perched momentarily on a bloom or branch-Sammon's butterflies flutter across the page in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of wings eyes, legs, and antennae.
About the Author
Rick Sammon is the author of 23 children's gift and how-to books, which include Seven Underwater Wonders of the World, Rhythm of the Reef, and the current best-selling Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography. Host of the Digital Photography Workshop series and the Photography Workshop Series on Do-It-Yourself Network, Rick is also a guest host of the Canon Photo Safari on the Outdoor Life Network. His photographs have been published in Wildlife Conservation, National Wildlife, National Geographic, as well as major publications around the world. Rick lives in New York with his wife and son.
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