I was attending a 7-week work-study program in Rockport, Maine when I got a call that Martha Stewart wanted to use one of my floral images in the Spring 2008 Brides Gift Guide. At the time I was cracking 42 eggs for the famous “salmon wiggle,” a breakfast dish created with leftover salmon and eggs for workshop participants. I excused myself and drove 2 hours to my apartment to gather items needed to print and ship my 8 x 10” floral image, which would be featured for $30.00 alongside soap, hair clips, and lipstick. 

At that point, marketing still consisted of print and tv commercials; Facebook was just starting to experiment with ads, and Instagram didn’t even exist. While today you probably need to hire PR and pay for these features, in 2008 you got lucky. I got lucky again when Ikea chose 4 of my prints to be printed worldwide (an 11 x 14” cost $3.99). A well-known photographer I respected and loved told me that I was selling myself short; nobody would take me seriously if I sold my work so cheap. . . . but I’ve now sold over 6000 prints on Etsy and Ikea has sold more than two hundred thousand of my prints.

Today I’m a different artist and it’s also a different world. After 15 years of selling $30.00 prints I’ve learned something about paper, printing, lighting, lenses, and inks. This new series is the result of the judgment and expertise I’ve built over that time and I’ve priced it accordingly.

Here is my artist statement from my recent work during lockdown:

“Gesture in a Still Life” Kari Herer 2020 

One of the first photographs that I remember was Edward Weston’s “Pepper No. 30.” That pepper was a piece of produce, and yet the photo was so intimate. The rich black and white tone and flawed skin elevates this pepper and reveals gesture. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to replicate this sentiment with flowers. During lockdown in June 2020, as with many other full-time artists and caregivers, my work and home life was upended. I have been fortunate to have successes and partnerships with work in the last decade, and yet overnight, my career and livelihood was thrown into doubt. Work disappeared. I am a single mother of two, and was pulled into constant caregiver mode while my children struggled to transition to online schooling. On the other hand, time slowed down and I had the space to look at my own work. Although my studio is feet from my house, it provided a place to “go” when the kids went to bed. I now had time where I could focus on work even if it was confined to late night, with artificial lighting. Creating this series was a way for me to return to that original inspiration. The hours I spent exploring the lines and curves, the subtle turns and gestures within the stillness of these flowers was a way of expressing intimacy when intimacy was impossible. Setting the lighting, making micro adjustments, props, and pins gave me a sense of balance when the outside world seemed out of control. It was a way to discover movement, however small, in the stillness. It was my attempt to create something beautiful for beauty’s sake.

My flower photography has been sold in Ikea, Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, Land of Nod, and Artfully Walls, and has been featured in Anthology, Design Sponge, Cup of Joy, Martha Stewart Weddings, Etsy, Modern Sanctuary, Click Magazine, Zest Magazine, and Creative Maine.