IN PARADISE GARDENS: YSABEL LEMAY

YSABEL LEMAY

There are infinite ways to experience the beauty of gardens -- partially because there is infinite beauty to be found within them -- partially because there are infinite ways of seeing them -- and partially because there are infinite ways to express it.

Fine art photographer Ysabel LeMay creates truly unique, extraordinary images that take gardens and flowers to a whole new level. She creates a plethora of fantastic paradises that seduce, captivate and fascinate, at once.

LeMay’s works are composite garden landscapes, with real world elements layered and remixed.

Born and raised in a secluded cottage in rural Quebec, Canada, developed an early fond connection with the  natural world. She began expressing her love for flowers in painting before she transitioned to photography. Her painterly approach carries through to her photography.

LeMay began to collect fragments of nature -- whole and bits of flowers, plant materials, insects and animals -- taking digital photos of each piece, then compiling them together to create digital collages. She developed a hyper-collage process that is at once organic and high-tech. She calls it “photo-fusion.”

Each image begins from a single starting point -- one inspirational flower. Then, in an intricate progression, she layers hundreds of other photos, one at a time, together with it, adjusting light, shadow, color, and other visual properties.

The smallest works use 150 to 200 separate elements; the largest may incorporate 300 to 600 elements.  The process can take at least 4 to 6 weeks to complete, not including the photography.

Animals become flowers. Flowers become heaven. Worlds become more beautiful in the dreamy transitions. Her gardens are swoon-worthy.

LeMay’s work has been featured in dozens of international exhibitions and is held in notable corporate collections. She represented her current home state of Texas at the fourth edition of Women to Watch, at Washington D.C.’s National Museum of Women in the Arts.

We caught up with LeMay’s latest at AIPAD THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW, where she was represented by Catherine Edelman Gallery. Check out her upcoming exhibitions at Galerie de Bellefeuille (June 2 -11, 2018) and Photo London 2018 (May 17 - 20, 2018).

Read more about In the Garden in Photographers in Gardens: Part 1, Photographer In Garden: Part II, Magnum In The Garden, 10 Most Beautiful Gardening Books, New York City’s Most Beautiful Gardens, and Beautiful Garden Edibles: Violets.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Metamorphose.”
2. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Celestre.”
3. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Meet Me There.”
4. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Repose.”
5. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. ”The Transmitter.”
6. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. The Fire Within.
7. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Repose.”
8. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Prelude.”
9. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Le Mariage.”
10. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. “Wild Flowers.”
11. Image: by Ysabel LeMay. Venus.