Habenaria integra- Small Southern Yellow Orchid 1931

Edwin Hale Lincoln made this delicate print of a Habenaria integra, or Small Southern Yellow Orchid. Look at how the tones shift almost imperceptibly, it's a quiet kind of image making, one that is very process oriented and seems to reflect a sense of care and attention. I find myself thinking about the surface of this print. It's smooth, almost like vellum, and this quality gives the image an ethereal feel. The subtle gradation of light and shadow makes the orchids seem to almost glow from within. Consider the smallest orchid on the left, it's barely there, like a whisper, or a memory. And then look at how the others are rendered with a bit more clarity, yet still retain a gentle quality. This reminds me a little bit of the work of Karl Blossfeldt, who also photographed plants with such precision and detail. But where Blossfeldt's work is often stark and scientific, Lincoln's feels softer, more poetic. There is something about the way he captured these orchids that invites us to contemplate the beauty and fragility of nature, and the passage of time.