Photographing for Gardening with Nature at the NYBG (Book + Webinar)

Participants in this webinar have the option to purchase a copy of the book, Gardening with Nature at the New York Botanical Garden, and receive complimentary admission to the webinar. Price below includes book, free shipping, and webinar admission.

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When I walk into a garden, I am looking for a sense of place. My photography has to capture this sense and reveal the intentionality of the maker of that garden. Setting the composition through framing the view, sometimes as the designer intended, and sometimes as I see it in a particular light and time of day. All gardens present differently through their seasonal life cycles. A portrait may need many visits to discover the inherent beauty of a living landscape.

In Gardening with Nature at the New York Botanical Garden I had a partner in Todd Forrest, Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at the Garden. This book, my third at the NYBG, was to display the multigenerational achievement that is the NYBG. These photographs celebrate the horticultural gift that Todd Forrest, the team of gardeners, and the original founders intended. The gardens are my portal to the natural world. The lyricism of my photographs is in the capture of the vitality of the native plants bathed in the light of the magnificent trees. I will discuss all of this and my approach, the equipment I choose, and the editing software which helps me keep track of the thousands of images that result in a book like Gardening with Nature.

LARRY LEDERMAN has been photographing landscapes for the past twenty years with a particular interest in the New York Botanical Garden. He has recently published DuPont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley with Monacelli Press and Garden Portraits: Experiences of Natural Beauty. His other photographic publications are The Rockefeller Family Gardens: An American Legacy, Frederic Church’s Olana, and Interior Landmarks: Treasures of New York.

TODD FORREST is Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at the New York Botanical Garden. He oversees the team of managers, curators, and horticulturists who steward the Garden’s natural landscapes, plant collections, gardens, and glasshouses and develop its celebrated horticulture exhibitions. An advocate for historic trees and forests in urban landscapes and public gardens, Forrest is the primary author of Gardening with Nature at The New York Botanical Garden (April 2025). 

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A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. The recording link will expire after one month. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar.