Bark

Bark is a photo book consisting of images taken at the New York Botanical Garden during 2019-2021. My images mix graphic-like tree structures and blossoms, with occasional upended orientations. They express nature’s cyclical processes with all of its transformational qualities. Gardens are planned and crafted, much like the city streets. So I wanted to apply my street photography skills to a world of unique and interesting plant life.

I was also drawn to the garden for sentimental reasons.  I grew up watching my father work on his larger-than-normal garden. As a kid, I resented any chores having to do with it. Now that I am older, I have developed a new fondness, because they remind me of my childhood. I wanted to photograph botanicals with him in the back of my mind.

My approach was very similar to how I created my first book, Manhattan Released, of street photography taken in Manhattan. Each weekend I would pick a specific area of the New York Botanical Garden and walk the grounds with a Fuji X100F. In a meditative state, I made pictures based on the subjects’ shape, color and line direction. The themes of decay and of transition sparked my interest and kept me moving forward.

The title Bark is influenced by my desire to emphasize the garden’s character in an animated way.  It is in constant movement with growth and transformation.  I vary my images orientation and sequencing to illustrate the tension and to act as a metaphor of the ups and downs of life with moments of melancholy and wonder.

I am currently in the process of making an edition of handmade photobooks of this series.