At Daniel Shipp‘s series Botanical Inquiry, the Sydney-based photographer investigates how plants and flowers found on the borders of urban infrastructure fit into our modern world. Shipp assembles apparently unremarkable plants and photos that the subjects in constructed dioramas, an environment which enables him to control the connection between foreground and background using a controlled accuracy. Through this process he can create stunning photographs in-camera, shooting digitally but with old visual effects techniques designed for early theater.

By highlighting botanical specimens we’ve culturally labeled “weeds,” Shipp tries to alter the viewer’s view of flora that they may walk past daily. He also recasts these marginal plants since the topic of everyone of his photographic tales, showcasing their talent for survival even in the face of contamination and dangerous human intervention.

“There are a few amazing ‘weeds’ that we may walk past all of the time,” Shipp describes to Colossal. “I understood that if I could introduce these frequently unnoticed plants in the ideal circumstance that there was possible for storytelling. The next time you go for a stroll make a bid to search for plants in areas you would not normally–shopping center car parks, service stations, etc..”

Shipp further clarified that among gorgeous colors he’s photographed for the show was discovered on the bottom of the foliage of a plant common to industrial parks around Sydney. The concealed purple was among the most incredible metallic colors he’d ever seen, and it’s been sneakily encircling him to get the vast majority of his lifetime.

You may view more of his photos on his Instagram, and have a behind-the-scenes look in his Botanical Inquiry show in the brief video below.