BBC - Painting Flowers - Rob Kesseler's Pollen

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17 November 2009
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Pollen
2004
16 x 17 cm
digital image

"Pollen is an amazingly resilient material. It takes many different forms, it's transported in many different ways, wind, many different vectors.

"Madeline Harley - head of research into pollen at Kew - showed me around all these amazing structures. It was fortuitous in that it's a fantastic subject in many different ways - metaphorically and in terms of its structure. It's pretty essential to life in a way.

"I'm currently collaborating with Madeline in a book about pollen. One chapter is called: 'No flowers - no pollen, no pollen - no flowers'.

"This tulip pollen grain was photographed on a scanning electron microscope and magnified 4500x and subsequently colour enhanced through Photoshop."

Read an interview with Rob Kesseler, or see his photographs of the tulip from which this pollen came.




Pollen Rob Kesseler


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Ann from Mirboo
Photography is amazing!! I am more involved with the current pollen dilemma. Would love to hear from anyone with references to current pollen situation this year???Regards,Ann

Liz, London
It kind of looks like a radish with fungus growing on it.

Thomas from evesham
I love the colour and the detail its faboulus

sanj johal
a very well looked in depth of art. what a loly piece of work

chris brittain Milton Keynes
Its shocking how amazing this looks. If i didn't know, i would of guessed it to be a planet.

Bethany Cann Cornwall
I often use microscopic flowers in my own work and i really love this work

Bethan 10 Abergele
its good but it looks more like a piece of pink dough rolled up into a ball

Krissy allport
It's a wonderful piece of work but how do we all know that that's what pollen really looks like?

Gaynor from Sheffield
I love the patterns and fractals in nature and this is a good example. The use of shades of the same colour is stunning and draws the eye into the detail.

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