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Gallery: Plant celebrities take to the red carpet

HAND bound in goatskin, 鈥榮 massive 鈥渄ouble elephant folio鈥� volume of 250 photographs of exotic flowers and plants sits on the shelves of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. You鈥檇 be lucky to be allowed a glimpse of it, as a similar volume is said to be worth $2.5 million. But now there is a trade edition around one-third the dimensions of the original, but still an impressive enough size and with a price tag to match.

It came about after Marc Hachadourian of the New York Botanical Garden spotted Singer with his camera at an orchid house. Impressed by the shots, he challenged Singer to photograph 10 more flowers in his own greenhouse. Singer is not one to downplay his talents. 鈥淢arc told me that normally it takes an experienced photographer 3 hours and 500 shots to get the perfect photo of an orchid 鈥� I did it in 5 seconds and one shot,鈥� he says. With Hachadourian and W. John Kress of the Smithsonian, Singer then embarked on a quest to photograph what he describes as 鈥渞are plants, historically significant flowers, gold medal winners, newly discovered plants, and plants that were just damn beautiful鈥�.

This image of the carnivorous Drosera venusta falls into the 鈥渉istorically significant鈥� category. Charles Darwin, who discovered the carnivorous nature of other Drosera species, wrote: 鈥淎t this present moment I care more about Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world.鈥�

Singer鈥檚 photograph reveals every hair and droplet of sticky fluid, ready to ensnare the flower鈥檚 prey. The same exquisite detail can be seen in most of his shots, even if some look more like paintings than photos, and others even look computer-generated 鈥� which some may find distracting. Singer photographs his subjects as though they are celebrities on the red carpet, with the spotlight on each. The result is an unprecedented display of detail.

Gallery: Plant celebrities take to the red carpet