Our December Garden Club program was presented by Laurie Tennent, a Birmingham, Michigan-based commercial photographer who has worked hard to produce a body of work comprised of botanically-based images. These relatively large-scale photographs (40 X 72) are digital images printed on aluminum. While many photographers are shooting events, people, and fashion, there are photographers who have devoted parts of their careers to capturing flowers. Laurie states, “My interest in photography started in high school with a love of science and biology. After an introduction to College for Creative Studies, I decided to pursue photography. It was the darkroom that really amazed me. Having an education in both fine art and commercial photography, I have practiced both for over 30 years. All of the images are created in the studio. Plants and botanical specimens are photographed with digital capture, and then dust and 
pollen are removed in post. They are printed on aluminum with a heat transfer process called dye sublimation. I only print a limited edition of 5 to 10 prints of each image.”
Not only has Laurie produced breathtaking photographs, but she has also expanded into producing high-quality prints of her botanical images on the fabric as members Melinda Earle and Joan Lewis, the lucky recipients of some of her works, show us.