In April of 2000 the stock market began to drop. In a matter days the technology stock heavy NASDAQ index lost 34% of its value. This was more than just the normal gyrations of a volatile sector of the market-this was something special. After mid-April, venture capital money-the driving force of the "New Economy"-began to dry up. Almost three years later, later the economy still teeters.

Think of it. There is an entire generation of people in the early to middle years of their professional lives who have never experienced an economic downturn. This is an entire generation whose expectations of life are undergirded by assumptions, whether they recognize them as such or not, of increasing prosperity. This reaches far beyond being merely a financial issue-our economic presuppositions are intertwined with every aspect of our lives.

As the NASDAQ index strove toward the center of the Earth, I began to make photographs. A friend had recently sent a bouquet of tulips to my home, and they signaled, in their quiet, serendipitous way, the significance of the stock market turmoil as it swirled around me. I photographed the flowers in their nascent state, and continued to photograph them as they bloomed and as they decayed.

The images are a meditation on one's expectations, on one's hopes and dreams. On one's values.

Click here for a sample of a completed darkroom print.