Sunday 9 February 2014

Flowers


The flowers here look better as stamps than in these Royal Mail PHQ postcards which were issued in 1987. The flowers, clockwise from top left, are: gailardia, echinops, colchicum and echeveria.   The style seems almost botanical although they must be based on photographs, I assumed until I read more, because the top right petal on the colchicum is out of focus.

That thought set me on a mission to find out more and in the end the photographer (they are indeed photos) turned out even more interesting than the stamps themselves.

Alfred Lammer started life in Austria where he was known as Alfred Ritter von Lammer.  The von Trapp family lived nearby and were friends.  He worked in London from 1934 so when war broke out in 1939, he stayed and after the war took up photography as his career.  He died in 2000 and his obituary featured in The Guardian.



This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

8 comments:

  1. I like the dark background for these flower shots. A lovely set - and as I seem to say every week, one I missed.

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  2. These black stamps (so unusual) must look gorgeous on a cover!

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  3. Stunning photographs, you are right they look better as stamps with just their dark surrounds. The link on Ritter was fascinating. I laughed at how his skills as a mountaineer and climber came in use when photographing stained glass in cathedrals. No wonder my results are patchy.

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  4. I missed this set completely; it's so good even if I didn't recognise the flower names.

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  5. Thank you for sharing this nice set. I like the dark background too.

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  6. I like the stamps, they are unusual! The second, echinops, looks so artistic, like it was abstract art!

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  7. The black background brings out the best in each flowers. :)
    Willa @ Postage Journal

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Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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