Of all the hobbies and arts that I’ve ever been delighted by, garden-making keeps me coming back, at least partially, because it also feeds another creative pursuit. Photography. If I were making clothes, collaging, drawing, or painting (as I am also inclined to enjoy), I wouldn’t feel the same pull to want to take pictures of my work. But with garden-making, it is different. Reveling in the reveal is as much a part of the joy as any other aspect of it. Beautiful and usually fleeting moments in a garden beg to be captured and preserved. And I am always happy to oblige.
Beth Dow, among other garden photographers, always inspires me to be a more artful designer. I aim to not only create landscapes that function for all the requirements they need to meet but also provide plenty of opportunity for moments of magic that someone might be able to capture.
Beth Dow best describes the beautiful collection, created as a special feature for Global Post.
These photographs were taken in formal English and Italian gardens. The shape and mystery of these places are a natural draw for me as they offer glimpses of the rich traditions of garden-making. I am interested in garden history and historical concepts of paradise, and aim for pictures that have a meditative quality to reflect the spiritual urges that inspired the earliest gardens some six thousand years ago.”
Beth Dow
I’ve admired the garden and landscape photography of many people on this site, but I think Beth Dow is my favorite. I fully understand that Beth has altered and edited the images to showcase the plants and scenes in a different light (both literally and figuratively), but this makes them more exciting.
My images are not depictive. I use the land before me as a jumping off point, implying light or shadow where perhaps there was none, as a way to create my own path through the garden. In fact, by positioning the lens, cropping my prints, and using burning and dodging to guide the viewer’s eye through a picture, I feel that I, too, am a gardener in a sense. I am after that “slant of curious light” that is the genius of a place.”
-Beth Dow
It makes me want, even more than I already do, to take more garden photography classes. And, if I can find one, some artful photo editing courses.
Her Book – In the Garden (which contains these images and more) – is available on Blurb.
Enjoy many more of her garden images, as well as her other works in this collection, on her website.
I hadn’t seen this book, but last year some of her images were available as prints from 20×200.com, and I really wanted one. They would be really amazing artwork at a larger scale don’t you think?