american artist
Dolores Kiriacon
photography
Dolores Kiriacon’s fine art photographs are of
nature and their natural forms from images of trees
and landscapes to still life’s of flowers and leaves.
“When I began photographing, I photographed
everything one does when discovering the world
through the lens of a camera. Then I concentrated
on flowers and leaves in their various stages of
growth and natural decline.”
Lilies – Blooming, Wilting and Wilted
This series of Lilies records the phases of a
plant’s life from it’s beginning bloom to its final state
of being wilted. These portraits celebrate the life
cycle of this beautiful flower allowing the viewer
to appreciate flowers in a new way. I began taking
photos of lilies while walking around Lake Victoria in
Palm Beach Gardens each morning with my dog.
These lilies grow to about two feet tall between
pointed leaves and are planted in mulch along a
brick path. I took hundreds of photos of the lilies in
all their stages of growth during a period of months.
They bloom each day, wilt fairly quickly then become
wilted.
Editing and selecting the lilies I begin by
isolating the lily and eliminating all unnecessary
elements. T his leaves a beautiful flower with all its
details isolated in a black background. While editing
the wilted images they became more of a piece of
sculpture as I sculpted the forms creating negative
and positive space, and a new shape developed in its
final stages of life. In each cycle of life the lilies were
transformed into a
new life of movement,
energy and a new
beauty.
Dried Leaves
Sea Grape Leaves
fall to the ground
during the entire year
becoming dry and
changing
different
colors
from
their
deep green color. The
variety of the colors
of the dried leaves
depends on the month
and where they were collected from.
Leaves collected from beach plantings have a
unique pattern on the leaves very different from the
leaves that were collected inland. The dryness of
the leaves takes
on a new shape
much
different
than their original
rounded shape.
The
different
shapes of the
dried leaves are
what draws my attention to them as I walk each
morning. The leaves are collected during a period
of months and are photographed in doors using
natural light on a reflective surface. I create still life
compositions often recomposing them many times
to find an arrangement that pleases my eye and the
lighting is just right. Editing the photos the colors,
shapes and textures become more vibrant bringing
another life to them.
Like the Lilies, these portraits celebrate the life
cycle of these beautiful leaves allowing the viewer
to appreciate them in a new way. My work is about
seeing – seeing things like they haven’t been seen
before. It’s about creating a feeling inside the viewer,
when he or she views the final image.