Jose Iraola says, “I have always conducted my photographic experiments with a painterly eye. This particular image belongs to a series I have been working on for several years titled Florilegio (An Anthology), a selection of flower images taken with a broken camera. There’s no other kind of manipulation except for the one produced by the technical imperfections of the machine. These conceptual explorations look far more like watercolors or pastel paintings than a photograph. This complex relationship among mediums remains constant in my work.”

The distorted flower photographs of Florilegio, taken in Iraola’s garden in Miami with a defective Canon digital camera, have a unique pictorial quality formed by layers of vibrant colors, deformed shapes, and lush textures that are beautiful and unexpected.