I had been photographing flowers for myself, and when I began conceptualizing the Miracle project that imagery came to mind as a natural fit because I feel the loveliness and beauty of flowers are so connected to the newborn; the synergy between the two is perfect. Newborns are soft and supple and curl themselves into such lovely round shapes, which are the natural shapes of flowers, as well.

I can't think of any flower that wouldn't be suitable to merge with an image of a newborn, and as I was planning for the book, Miracle, I was drawn to blossoms that appealed to me artistically. For example, the lotus flower is about new beginnings. It signifies life and its meaning. And the rose has such a gorgeous, luxurious feeling; I imagined a baby in the middle of this lovely soft center, surrounded by velvety petals. Holding them in my hands at the Parnell Rose Gardens here in Auckland, I thought the blooms looked incredibly comfortable.

These conceptions became my central themes in Miracle, alongside the babies themselves. The images flow from six florals: the calla lily, lotus, magnolia, moth orchid, peony, and rose.

I shot the flowers first, on film, because I needed to know the specific shapes we would be creating for the babies. I used a computer to join the imagery of the babies and the flowers. Even down under, we do not grow flowers that large!

The trouble with flowers is that invariably, when I'm ready to photograph them, they are not in season. For instance, our team traveled all the way to Brisbane, Australia, to a more tropical climate where the lotuses were in flower. They very carefully packaged up boxes of lovely buds and blossoms, to avoid any bruising of the plants, and carted them back to my studio for me.

I have to say that I am so thrilled about this project. Since the beginning, when I started photographing the babies at home in New Zealand, everything has had such a wonderful energy about it. Of all the projects that I've worked on, Miracle has been the most enjoyable for me.