Wood focuses on still life photography of plants and cut flowers

4/2/2025

Flowers and plants can be beautiful to see and intoxicating to smell. Yet, when Molly Wood approaches a live plant to photograph with her camera, it is more than capturing the exquisite details; it is a metaphor for her personal experiences.

Wood is a professional photographer with Molly Wood Photography. She focuses on botanical works — still life photography of various plants and cut flowers.

She displays her work at Olson-Larsen Galleries and works out of her studio at Mainframe Studios. Wood’s work is also displayed at other various galleries, businesses and exhibits throughout the Midwest. Her day job is arranging photo shoots for Dotdash Meredith.

Wood’s latest photography series is called Fatal Flora. She photographs botanicals that are both toxic and medicinal. 

“I became interested in the paradox — how can one plant be both good and bad? This series relates to toxic relationships, and I use these plants as symbols of the contradictions with humans,” she said. 

Wood obtains flowers and greenery from her own backyard, Rose Farm and from “all over.” She arranges still life photos of cut flowers, taking care to catch natural light at its peak. It is her goal to replicate the look of a Renaissance painting. 

“There’s a moment when the light right before the sunset is best,” she said. “When you hit that perfect moment of light, then it looks like a painting.” 

Wood picked up a camera when she was young. Her grandfather was a “huge photographer.” 

“His wife had died, and he didn’t have a lot of pictures of her,” she said. “He began taking pictures to capture memories.”

Wood accompanied her grandfather on his photography outings. By the time she was in high school, she was snapping pictures for her yearbook. She attended grad school and earned an art history degree with a focus on photography.

Early in her career, she used film camera and mostly shot black and white work. 

“It was easier to manipulate black and white in a darkroom,” she said. “Color prints always faded too fast.” 

As digital cameras evolved, she was skeptical and felt the quality wasn’t as sharp as a real film camera could offer. Yet, she eventually embraced it. 

“I was a slow adapter, but I loved it. I quickly changed my mind. People who love film haven’t had that dark room smell stink up your hands.”

With digital, she found she could print on archival paper using archival ink, which helps for better preservation than traditional camera film.

People often ask her what type of camera she uses. 

“It’s like asking a chef which pots and pans do you use,” she said. “I’m not loyal to one camera. I usually take with cheap cameras. It’s nothing super fancy.” 

A longtime botanical series she returns to is her Omnia Vanitas. She used photography to work through emotions during a time when her dad died and her daughter was born. 

“Vanitas talks about things in the physical world that don’t last forever. Cut flowers don’t last forever. Things in the physical world don’t last in the spiritual world,” Wood said. “These compositions refer to the fleeting nature of time.” 

Wood views photography as a form of therapy. 

“When I shoot it, I tend to work out things in my mind,” she said. “I think art is a good therapy.” ♦