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Solitary fern stems reaching skyward from the lawn of my cottage became a photographic project in the spring of 2019. I have long been drawn to frontal erect sculptures, be they slender Giacomettis, standing Buddhas or ancient Greek Caryatids. Here then were ferns, which, to my mind’s eye, embodied similar qualities. Not just any ferns, but those in my garden, still unnamed and rarely found in the surrounding countryside. I followed their evolution from early folded-in fronds to the gestural forms that appeared as the summer passed. A wide upward pointing lens positioned close to the ground delivered extreme foreshortening. The ferns presented with a grandeur and scale that dwarfed more distant trees and bushes. But in reality they were only inches high!

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