Orchids in 3-D: A Presentation With Photographer James Comstock
Sunday June 19th, 2pm, Downtown Independent Theater
$5 at the door for current LA 3-D Club members
$10 at the door for non-members (admission is waived with student ID)
James Comstock has been taking pictures for as long as he has been growing plants, which is basically as long as he can remember. He attended California Institute of the Arts where he studied film, which led to a film special effects business in Los Angeles. Simultaneously, he worked at several nurseries, which led to one of his current activities: landscape design and contracting. His love for plants and photography were, not surprisingly, joined from the beginning. And when he started experimenting with 3-D photography in 1993, flowers were, of course, one of his first subjects.
Most of this presentation consists of close-up 3-D images of orchids and flowers from many plants families. It provides a perspective (often from an insect’s point of view) which illuminates the unique structures of each flower. This can either help us clarify in our minds the functionality of the structures used in the pollination strategy of the plant, or dazzle and perplex us when that functionality eludes us.
Jim has also been hybridizing clivias since 1986. This led him to Harold Koopowitz, an expert on flora from South Africa, home of the clivias. Harold and Jim eventually decided to collaborate on the book Clivias (published in 2004 by Timber Press), with Jim providing the majority of the photographs. Harold is a noted figure in orchid circles as well and introduced Jim to their fascinating universe. Jim’s camera has been open to orchids ever since. He finds them ideal subjects for 3-D photography, and their huge diversity will provide him with a near-infinite source of inspiration for a lifetime. He also does regular 2-D photography, and his 2D orchid pictures appear frequently in Orchid Digest magazine, where the editors also humor Jim by providing a 3-D feature page in each issue. He is currently in the beginning stages of producing a 3-D book on orchids.
About the Show:
Visually, the close-up 3-D image is usually clearer than unaided human vision can commonly provide. And while all of this is hopefully engaging on a botanical level, at its heart this show is an aesthetic journey, where each flower becomes a breathtaking combination of alien sculpture, elfin architecture, and fantasy landscape.
We will visit orchids, both hybrids and species, and representatives from the Aroid, Lily, Asclepiad, and Amaryllis families, in addition to Clivias, carnivorous plants, and more. Come ride the dangerous curves of a petal to slide into a throne room decorated with colors and patterns that would make your interior decorator shriek (with delight or horror)!
Sunday, June 19th, 2016, 2:00pm
Downtown Independent Theater
251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Note: Paid parking is available at many parking lots in the adjacent area and street parking is free on Sundays. The theater is also only several blocks from the MTA Red Line.