VEGETAL FAUNA, photo series, begun in 2011.
I divert a subject from reality, in this case from flora (vegetables, leaves, petals, bud, stem ...), to show another from the imagination, in this case from fauna (swan, beluga whale, duck, lizard, goose, spider, albatross, crocodile ...). Within the same form, the imaginary is superimposed on the real, thus creating a double reading of photography and revealing a bridge between animal and plant.
It is not a simple ornemental gourd, a simple water lily, a simple black radish, a simple arum lily… These are elements that I looked for because I knew that they could embody animals. As always, I am in search of the rarity which will be able to embody my idea: for example, to carry out the Beluga photograph, I had to find and observe nearly a hundred arum (a large white one). Indeed, the flower I was looking for must have a deformity likely to restore the profile of a beluga, in particular its melon (its broad and rounded forehead).
As usual, I used techniques allowing to restore my gaze on these plants: lighting effects, distorted white balance, image rotation, etc.
Translation of this webpage by Corinne Thouvenin.
Original version is here: https://www.corinne-thouvenin.com/faune-vegetale
Title: Bird at twilight
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2025
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography, focus stack.
Limited edition: 20 copies
I wanted to photograph a bird that had just splashed around in a pond or puddle visible in the background. The scene takes place at dusk, with the moon illuminating the water and fireflies floating in the air.
I left enough ambiguity to allow for several interpretations: for instance, a dolphin underwater, a worm emerging from the bottom of an aquarium, and above all, an injured bird (a goose?) in front of a pond.
I damaged the pear so that, a few days later, a black wound had formed. Finally, at the end of the shoot, I placed a drop of water on the corner of this imaginary bird's eye. This creates several possible interpretations: we can imagine it crying in pain (because of the wound), sad, moved, or simply wet after shaking itself off."
Title: Dolphin in the abyss
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2025
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
I repurposed an element of the plant world (a pear) to represent an element of the animal kingdom (a dolphin). As always, I was on the lookout for a rare specimen capable of embodying my vision—in this case, an Abate pear, which I sought out specifically for its resemblance to a dolphin's body.
To give my concept greater presence, I staged the scene much like a film set, paying close attention to makeup, lighting (blue and white hues), background, and framing. Then, to heighten the transfiguration of reality, I chose to photograph the pear using a macro lens; the resulting intense blur rendered the background unrecognizable while making my subject stand out.
In short, I photographed my imagination, drawing upon real-world elements that were repurposed, staged, and ultimately captured on camera.”
Title: Eurasian coot on a frozen lake
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2025
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
An Abate pear is selected, transformed, embellished, staged, and photographed to resemble a bird (an eurasian coot) on a frozen lake, by a winter night.
We can also imagine a beluga whale at the bottom of the ocean.
Title: Animal emerging from a meadow
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2023
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A plantain banana is staged and then photographed in such a way as to embody a swan observing something that has intrigued it, over the tall grass and flowers.
Title: Mole at winter's end
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2025
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A pear is staged and then photographed to embody a mole emerging from its burrow (hence the overturned earth and snow) to see if winter is ending (hence the flowers breaking through the snow, the snow cover in the foreground, and the snowflakes in the background).
Title: Scarred duck
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2023
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A plantain banana is staged and then photographed to resemble a scarred duck.
What—or who—is it looking at? Why is it in the middle of this meadow?
Title: Wading Bird
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2021
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A tulip bud and leaf are put together and photographed to look like a bird.
The tulip leaf is positioned to evoke the long neck of the bird. The stem embodies the beak. The bud represents the head of the bird.
The background evokes water while extracting the subject from reality.
Title: Couple of geese
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2018
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
Two small decorative colocynths are photographed to evoke an interaction between two birds. One of them has a shape similar to a goose's silhouette.
The staging accentuates this similarity between birds and vegetables: the posture of these gourds suggests an animal interaction (one calls out to the other, while the other pretends to ignore it), with a blue background referring to water (the natural habitat of this aquatic bird), and a framing that crops out any shapes dissimilar to those of a goose.
Title: The Lizard and the fish net
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2012
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A lily pad, in its chrysalis, is chosen for its resemblance to a lizard.
The eye is the result of an optical illusion: a worm has eaten the leaf in a circular fashion. This results in a hole and a yellow ring where the leaf is dying.
Title: Sick Cormorant, adrift at sea
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2022
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A colocynth looks like vaguely a great cormorant drifting on a somewhat choppy sea. I have cultivated ambivalence and paradox to stir the imagination and prompt questions: —Why is this bird drifting? Normally, a bird flies; it does not drift. Is it unable to fly —perhaps sick, accounting for its deformities, or injured —or does it refuse to abandon its brood? —Was the nest blown away by the wind? Did a wave surge over the coast and sweep the nest out to sea? —Is this the end of the storm or the very beginning? Does it herald a tragedy or a clearing of the skies? —Were the nest and the bird swept away together by the storm? Or did the bird perhaps find the nest floating like a raft in the open sea? —Why is it misshapen? Is it sick? Dying? —What are those white things in the sky—snow, ash, or some luminous phenomenon?
Title: Crocodile
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2021
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A tulip bud is photographed to resemble a crocodile. I chose this Black Parrot tulip because, here, the outline of the petals looks like the teeth of a carnivore. This tulip is green because it is a bud. It begins to open, revealing the fringed edges of its purple petals. The eye-shaped hollow, the staging (triple lighting), the make-up (powder on the petals), the overexposure and the color balance finalize this crocodile incarnation.
Title: Sick great cormorant
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2022
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
I chose a misshapen, spotted, and pockmarked colocynth to evoke a sick cormorant. I altered the vegetable's yellow hue to a near-monochrome look, making it appear less lifelike and drawing the eye to the bumps and its silhouette.
![Béluga [fleur arum].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4e4ef5_e75eb15700e04a75b448cd2c64b2c2e6~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_425,h_630,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/B%C3%A9luga%20%5Bfleur%20arum%5D.jpg)
Title: Beluga
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2016
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: telephotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
I photographed an arum (a flower) so as to evoke a beluga whale in side view. I chose an arum for two reasons: its thick and discreetly wrinkled petal reminds me the skin of a dolphin; its yellow pistil, protruding and lodged in a hollow, is apt to evoke an eye.
I photographed a calla lily (a flower) in a way that evokes the profile of a beluga whale's face. I chose a calla lily for two reasons: its thick, subtly wrinkled petal reminds me of dolphin skin, and its yellow pistil—protruding from a hollow—evokes an eye.
I then brought my idea to life through staging and photographic technique.
Title: Large bird incubating eggs
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2018
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
This photography features an imaginary bird brooding.
He is embodied by a colocynth (a vegetable) resting on a ball of yarn (simulacrum of a nest), in front of a pink plaid.
This bird looks like a swan and vaguely a flamingo. The swan is clearly perceptible: the lighting emphasizes its silhouette and sketches the outline of an eye. The flamingo is evoked by the pink background and the long neck.
Title: Prehistoric fish
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2022
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A tulip bud is photographed to resemble a prehistoric fish leaping above the water of a stream.
To underline the ambivalence of my subject, I chose to show elements which refer to the tulip (bud, stem, leaf) and elements which refer to water (tulip photographed in front of a blue painted canvas and superimposition of 2 photos of cloudy skies).
Title: Cormorant in the furnace
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2022
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A colocynth is staged and photographed to evoke a nesting cormorant—surrounded by flames and ash, and covered in blisters.
![Oie [coloquinte].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4e4ef5_ee0e8fecc2344b58a6dc0a34faa86533~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_650,h_440,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Oie%20%5Bcoloquinte%5D.jpg)
Title: Goose
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2018
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A small decorative colocynth is chosen, staged and photographed in such a way as to evoke a goose (an animal).
This subterfuge is possible thanks to several elements that modify our view of this vegetable: silhouette and pose similar to those of a goose, tight framing that focuses attention on the similarities, insertion in a setting that refers to water, the natural environment of this waterfowl.
Title: Dolphin examining the coral
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2023
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A plantain is staged and then photographed to resemble a dolphin scanning the coral in search of a crab. This is a behavior observed in dolphins; crabs are part of their diet.
Titel: Slithering snake
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2021
Size: 20 x 30 à 60 x 90 cm
Technique : photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A tulip (black parrot) is chosen, enlightened, and photographed for embodying a crawling snake.
The arrival of the snake is suggested by its posture, by its direction, by the blur and by the pattern of the fabric (lines and rhythm).
Titre : Spider exploring
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2021
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: macrophotography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A large red tulip with a yellow heart is chosen, staged, photographed and, finally, colored to enhance the resemblance between its stamens and a spider.
Title: Spatulated avocet.
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2011
Size: 20 x 30 to 50 x 75 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A small decorative colocynth is chosen and presented for its similarity to two birds: the avocet and the spatula.
The background is like the duality of my subject: the tall grass is reminiscent of the vegetation where these birds nest; the pumpkin reminds us that this simulacrum of a bird is first and foremost a vegetable.
Title: Parrot on the ground
Series: Vegetal Fauna
Year: 2021
Size: 20 x 30 to 100 x 150 cm
Technique: photography
Limited edition: 20 copies
A colocynth is evoke a macaw parrot looking for something on the ground.