Industrial Disease Flowers

This is the very first photograph I created of any real worth, made shortly after buying my first SLR camera. My technical skills were poor, but a basic understanding of composition was beginning to govern the major layout of my work.

Even though this photo is slightly soft and technically weak, the composition works to convey a certain sinister cheapness that I was unable to replicate for many years. The potted plants gleam sickly in the light from the small pop-up strobe, and the distant buildings add a rigid industrial feel to the small foreground.

Throughout my career as a photographer, small flashes of inspiration have always yielded better photographs than careful planning and spectacular locations combined. I consider this to be the first of many such inspirations.