Garden writer and photographer Bren Haas, when interviewing me about my career and books, asked if I’d had a mentor for my photography or painting. I told her, “Light is a great teacher. I become transfixed when I see sunlight glittering on leaves, shadow patterns, or some lovely translucence. I’m uncomfortable in the presence of ‘wrong’ light—i.e. a windowless [...]
A recent visit to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston provided a glorious opportunity to photograph trees. After all, the word “arbor” is Latin for tree and arboreta are collections of trees. What better a place to go to work with my camera. I confess I was once uninterested in traditional arboretums because there tends to be little structure to [...]
Longtime readers of Gardening Gone Wild will recognize most of the tips in Think Like A Camera, the second book in my series of PhotoBotanic Garden Photography Workshops. “The first lesson in all my garden photography workshops is to ‘think like a camera.’ Your camera is a tool, which can only take a picture when [...]
No, this is not the view from Alcatraz, The Rock, the old prison in San Francisco Bay. I am on vacation, relaxing on a family reunion at the beach.. So I have pulled a post from July 2009 with an update on the Gardens of Alcatraz. I was recently invited by The Garden Conservancy to tour the [...]
Recently I photographed at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, about an hour from my home, and needed to arrive before dawn. The Bancroft Garden is one of the most iconic gardens in America, full of mature cactus and succulents in a summer-dry climate, a testimonial to Ruth’s plant choices 50 years ago and successful gardening [...]