Flowers Face to Face

Photographer David Leaser captures the microscopic beauty of nature at the Selby Gardens.

By Nick Reichert
| 6:00 a.m. December 22, 2015

Though he hails from California, David Leaser has been finding his photographic inspirations in Florida's gardens and wildlife.

Arts + Culture

David Leaser isn’t the type of photographer who hides behind his camera. A lot of nature photography requires shooting subjects from a distance, whether it’s landscapes or wildlife. But for Leaser, the fun lies in getting up close and personal.

This month, Leaser shares his intimate, larger-than-life photos of flowers at one of the places where his photographic journey began: the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Running from Dec. 18 to 30 as a part of Selby Gardens’ “Lights in Bloom” holiday exhibit, Leaser’s portraits will be on display through a partnership with the State of the Arts Gallery. Proceeds from sales of Leaser’s work will go toward continuing the gardens’ year-round plant conservation and study programs.

Growing up, Leaser and his family took annual vacations to visit his grandparents on Treasure Island.

It was during those adolescent summer excursions that the inquisitive California native became obsessed with the tropical plant life. Even when he had entered the professional world as a business development executive at IBM, he still would return any chance he could to Florida.

Using software developed by NASA along with his Nikon equipment, David Leaser has created an unique method of taking botanical portraits.

With his camera constantly by his side, Leaser began to casually capture the beauty of the flowers and visit area gardens and nature preserves, including the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. In 2003, Leaser decided to pursue his hobby more seriously.

Adapting equipment and software from NASA and Nikon, Leaser’s developed his own unique style. His plant portraits consist of dozens of individual, high-resolution shots, layered on top of each other. His camera takes anywhere from 25 to 100 photos within seconds, with Leaser placing his camera just inches away from his floral subject. He then layers the individual photographs into one composite, so each miniscule petal and color is in crisp focus. The results show flowers no larger than a thumbprint in intricate, colorful detail.

“Nightstar” is a part of David Leaser’s first Nightflower series. Though a native of California, Leaser’s work was inspired by his time in Florida and his first photos taken at Selby Gardens.

“I’ve always tried to provide the viewer with something new, different or something they’ve never seen before,” says Leaser. “I hope that my work gives people who never think about plants in their day-to-day lives a heightened appreciation of nature and a smile on their face.”

The high-tech business man turned plant portraitist shares his insights on his meticulous photo-layering process and the key to getting his floral models in the right pose.

“I was involved in yearbook as a kid and took photos casually ever since. I went to Los Angeles for work and ran into a guy who worked at National Geographic. I came back to Florida and took a number of photos of plants and landscapes using his tips. He completely changed my game. Those photographs, including ones taken at Selby Gardens, ended up in my first book in 2005.”

“Marilyn,” is a part of Leaser’s first Nightflower series. Leaser earned the silver medal at the 2015 International Photography Awards. Eleven of Leaser’s photos have been added to the Huntington Library’s permanent collection.

“For one of my last books, I was in the Amazon rainforest, and I was trying to figure out what to do next. During that trip, I was taking photos of flowers on the floor of the rainforest and wanted a bird’s-eye view of these beautiful flowers, so I would lay down on the ground and get my camera as close as possible. But my normal cameras couldn’t capture the detail that I wanted.”

“I started experimenting with the technology and discovered this NASA technology and software that will allow you to stack images together and go pixel by pixel and modify the dozens of images into one crystal-clear composite. I started putting together these technologies and took images that had complete clarity. I could photograph flowers the size of a thumbnail in complete focus and blow them up into large portraits. You get the best perspective of a flower that has ever been seen before.”

“In some cases, it takes a year from start to finish. What I’ll do is select the flower subjects. Sometimes, they’re from catalogues, botanical books or just my backyard. I chill them for 60 days at 40 degrees in a fridge. Then I have to prop them up and put them in a greenhouse, and two weeks later, I’ll have a subject.”

“Hokulei” is a part of Leaser’s second Nightflowers series. Out of 20,000 juried artists, Leaser was the only photographer exhibited in the 2013 London Art Biennale, one of the largest art fairs in the world.

“Then I’ll bring the flowers into the studio and they have to acclimate to the studio. Flowers are moving all day long outside, and if I take too long to take a photo series, they’ll start to move and react to the light of my camera. Flowers are so sensitive to light and temperature that I give them two weeks to completely open up. I take up to 100 photos per flower really quickly, because if the flower moves or adjusts to the light, then most of those images won’t be able to stack up into one composite and I’ll have to start all over again.”

“Some of the flowers have extremely strong personalities depending on their panel arrangement and composition. I’ll audition the flowers by bringing them into the studio and placing them on a posing table. My studio looks like a fashion photography studio most days. I have full blown strobe lights and seamless backgrounds. I have the typical equipment for a fashion photo shoot.”