Apple, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. Half of an apple. Simple, basic—to the core! However, an image of this apparent simplicity is often not as easy to make as one might think. It usually takes a fair amount of artifice to create an image that seems very simple.

Unfurling, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. Delicately unfurling, this young fiddlehead fern frond promises birth. Its curl is a precursor to motion, the potential energy of a young living thing. I photographed this macro using a light box as the background, then inverted the L Channel for a black background. Monochrome seemed appropriate, [...]

The Front Side, photo by Harold Davis. This is a photo about lines, textures, and the contrast between smooth white and dark black. Really, this is true.

Kimi Solarization, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. Speaking of solarization—we were talking about solarization, right?—here’s a black and white photo of the model Kimi treated to virtual solarization.

Seeds, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. I photographed these seeds on a white piece of paper. The idea was to use the lighting to create a whole new shadow effect. Like the egg yolk separator and Joseph’s glasses. The result, I think, is really quite an elegant composition. Like seeds and their parachutes [...]

Mustard Green, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. In color, this leaf looked like some green and luminous sea creature, complete with curling tentacles. It was with some reluctance that I converted the photo to black and white, adding in elegance what I may be missing in startling color.

Godetia on Paper, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. Following the egg yolk separator, more shadow play.

Cadillac, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger. I like the way the grill of this 1940 car looks almost abstract, and I thought it very fitting to show it in black & white. By the way, I originally identified the car as a Packard on Flickr, and was corrected by the aptly handled Packardman1934. [...]