Flame Among Leaves

About this piece

Mike Gedj frames a heliconia’s alternating bracts in saturated orange-red and yellow against soft green foliage. Fine surface textures, darkened edges, and small pale flowers interrupt the bold geometry, grounding the composition in the details of a living plant.

The story

I found myself looking through the leaves rather than past them. Their green blur softened the edges of the frame, while the heliconia held its sharp, bright shape in the opening. I followed the alternating points with my eye, then noticed the smaller things: a pale flower curling outward, a dark seam, a bead of moisture. Those details kept the colour from becoming an abstraction. I wanted the photograph to hold both the brilliance and the wear.