As for many others, the Covid-19 pandemic ruined my travel plans for 2020 and seemingly also for, at least parts of, 2021. I am a wildlife photographer and I normally photograph animals. Many of my fellow photographers turned to local subjects. Living in Malta we are a bit starved on local fauna. At least the type of animals I like to photograph. I thought long and hard what to do and I figured out that we have 36 species of orchids in Malta.
Soon I realised that this might be an interesting challenge for me. I never really photographed flowers or plants. So I have now set out on this photographic journey on photographing the local orchids in Malta this spring.
Although we have 36 species on this tiny island it would more or less be impossible for me to photograph all the species. Some are presumed extinct or possibly extinct. Of some species, only a handfull of specimens are known to exist. I will focus on the more common ones and hopefully, I can also manage to find some of the rare ones. Just because they are more common it doesn’t mean they are any less beautiful right?
If you are interested in these beautiful wild flowers, I suggest you purchase this handbook by Stephen Mifsud called “Orchids of the Maltese Islands”.
My project on orchids in Malta
I am creating a more artistic and photographically oriented book focusing on the beauty of these orchids here in Malta. Basically more pictures and less text (or no text). Since there is already an expectedly executed handbook on the Maltese orchids in existence there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
If you are interested in photographing these orchids in Malta (Dec-May) please contact me
Autumn lady’s-tresses – Malta
Cretan rainbow bee orchid
Autumn ladys’-tresses
Spotted milky orchid
Fan-lipped orchid