Richard Drury, a professional photographer from East Anglia, England, spends much of his working day photographing still lives. In his capacity as an advertising photographer, a profession he has been following since 1991,he specializes in the studio set-up, photographing for such clients as Getty Images, Nissan, The Arts Council and W.H. Smith. There the aim of the still life is to cherish the subject, to render it beautiful, to make it an object of desire. Thus it shouldn’t be a surprise that Richard Drury also turns to the still life in his fine-art work.

Primarily a portfolio of Calla lilies, orchids and roses, the work includes images of gerbera, irises, gladioli, lisianthus, cactus and a bird of paradise. Color is the subject matter, a spectrum of gold, reds, and yellows, and even white-on-white and black seem like luscious hues, sometimes subtle, sometimes startlingly monochromatic. The result are larger-than-life radiant blooms printed on etching paper so that the print itself is a crafted fine-art object in which the hand of the artist is quite evident.