Photography is a very personal journey, a combination of technical skill and unique expression of a moment experienced. Beauty is everything from the mundane to the most exquisite landscape, learning that beauty has no rules, boundaries or formula is one of the most important lessons a photographer can learn.
There are photographic formulas that help one learn the process or overcome the technical hurdles, however, there comes a time when you must cross those boundaries and work with your soul allowing the spiritual and emotional connection with your world, your story to come through. We, as photographers, are telling our story, our connection with the world we inhabit today.
Our photographs are the legacy we leave future generations, so they can see and feel our way of life, our social and economic fabric, and the deep connection we as individuals experienced the world around us.
In my previous role, as Picture Editor of The Times, there wasn’t much room for beauty or vulnerability. After six years in the role, I had my dream job turned into a nightmare as the long hours, high pressure and responsibility got the better of me as I succumbed to depression, anxiety, and insomnia. I have been a photographer all my working life, it has been the only constant really. In a bid to help myself I started to photograph things around my flat, all sorts of things, just to try and see the beauty of life.
Flowers naturally caught my eye but not because of their beauty but because of how much they reminded me of myself and my struggle with life. I would sit just looking at the flowers, noticing their curves, lines, fragility, and strength. They fascinated me.
The hours I spent just watching the flowers bloom, fade and die, entranced by their battle. Within each plant I could see myself, I almost became the flower, or the flowers became me I couldn’t tell where I ended, and they began. But witnessing their struggle to give their best, even when I forgot to care for them, they would still perform their dance for me.
The images that I have exhibited are a personal narrative, each one represents an awareness of my place in the world, originating as a series documenting the fragility I felt as I started a recovery from a nervous breakdown, they explore the way I became aware of my own emotions, vulnerabilities, strengths, and growth through seeing the equivalence in flowers.
These images are deeply personal and miles away from the photographer I thought I should be but came from a much deeper place than anything I had made before. They are, after all, just flowers but they are also me.
American photographer Minor White said that every image we make is a self-portrait, for me nothing has never been truer, and you will see this in these photographs.
- Paul Sanders, August 2023
* To enquire about purchasing any of the photographic prints featured, please email katy.love@bishopspalace.org.uk