Joanne Koltnow has been making art since she was a child, working in various media but always coming back to photography.  She loves the opportunity it gives her to distill a moment in time.  For about 20 years she photographed people, making dark and mysterious images.

Five years ago, wanting to digitize some negatives her father had made in the 30's, Koltnow bought a flat bed scanner.  And then one day she placed a flower on the glass and scanned it.  The resulting image - magnified and transparent - took her breath away.  It also changed the direction of her photography.  The flower images she now makes - with their floating, watercolor-like effect - remind her of early French botanical drawings.  When she adds containers to the objects on the scanner, the image is unpredictably transformed.

At this point she has scanned thousands of flowers, learned their botanical names, and met scores of gardeners, horticulturists, and flower appreciators.  Her work is in private collections throughout the US.  She lives in Palo Alto, California.

---