As a teenager in coastal Connecticut, Paul Lange won a camera in a Readers Digest contest and began dabbling in photography, taking the camera everywhere and setting up a basement darkroom with chemical trays balanced on the family washing machine. After leaving studies at UConn and graduating from RIT, he traveled for a year with a German photographer before becoming an acclaimed fashion photographer in NYC and meeting Jennifer, who became his wife and business partner.
Moving up the Hudson with their two sons after 9/11, they renovated a Colonial farmhouse and converted the 1830s barn into a work space. “I do photography in the upper area, our office is where the cows were,” he notes. Discovering they lived down the road from where their longtime friend—and highly regarded florist—Zeze lives and grows many of the plants he sells, they started a collaboration that has evolved into four series of nature and landscape pictures. Discovered by Aerin Lauder—who admired his flower photos displayed in Zeze’s First Avenue shop—Lange’s “Big Blooms” have been introduced to designers, art consultants and collectors worldwide.
Photographer Paul Lange’s large-scale “Big Blooms” series includes Carrie.
Photographer Paul Lange’s large-scale “Big Blooms” series includes Celine.
Photographer Paul Lange’s large-scale “Big Blooms” series includes Paulina.
How does photography captivate you?
There’s the magic of watching the image develop as it soaks through the chemicals on the developing tray.
How do you choose the flowers that you shoot?
We go out in the morning with a lot of buckets. Originally, we just picked them, but Zeze’s wife, Peggy, has taught us to look for perfect specimens. Then, back in the studio, Jennifer sorts them, and I’ll be grabbing them, battling against time—there isn’t much time to get it right.
What techniques are involved in photographing flowers?
Dealing with petals, stems and stamens is always a challenge. Some flowers are so captivating that I can visualize the picture in my mind’s eye, and the challenge is to see if I can make it a reality. I make the flower “listen” to what I want it to do and capture that in the time available before the flower changes. It’s a constant race and learning process. Mother Nature waits for no one.
What are the best flowers to photograph?
No flower is easy for me. I think peonies and Oriental poppies are the most alluring in their various guises and many stages of blooming. They’re very expressive, the way the petals move so well. They’re both feminine with architecturally interesting petals and breathtakingly beautiful colors.
Why do you name the blossoms after exceptional women in popular culture, history, arts and sciences?
I strive to establish a visual symbiosis between each flower image and the achievements of the woman it is inspired by— guiding the viewer to look closer at the beauty in nature and knowing more about the woman it represents.
Why do you print them so large—around four feet square?
The big format was always in the forefront—they aren’t meant to be botanicals. They should be majestic. Every element of the image has to be perfect.
Which Connecticut flowers do you favor?
I miss the masses of blue hydrangea macrophylla and the tea roses that proliferate in the coastal climate that we don’t have upstate.
What’s the genesis and trick of your “Fowl” series?
The ducks and chickens were funny, running loose like Keystone Cops. I create a makeshift outdoor studio by the henhouse, and I use the same words of encouragement as toward human subjects, “Head up, eyes here, longer neck stand up, No… NO…don’t move.” Sometimes we have our moment if only for one miraculous second.
What flower did you choose for your wedding?
Luckily, the chapel was still decorated with gorgeous white roses from the wedding before ours! Jennifer’s bouquet was white freesia and rubrum lilies. We were clueless, however, about removing the lily stamens, and the pollen permanently stained her ivory silk satin wedding gown.
Why don’t you tire of shooting flowers?
There are different challenges every year, and the surprises are fantastic. I’m always excited to try new things—the process of learning each flower, what’s unique and what works for me to create it is something new. Zeze’s dahlias are currently calling to me.