Picnic Table, with Hail Stones, Colorado Springs, CO, 1980

Coinciding with The Photographer in the Garden, Aperture is pleased to present a series of limited-edition prints by artists featured in the book.

"I’m not a gardener or even a garden photographer. I’m a traveler who visits gardens for solace and visual inspiration. That means I seek from gardens what I seek from life itself--visually layered scenes that hold the possibility for meaningful photographic moments."

—Sam Abell

From famous locations to the simplest home vegetable garden, from worlds imagined by artists to vintage family snapshots, The Photographer in the Garden traces the garden’s rich history in photography and delights readers with spectacular images. Picture commentaries by Sarah Anne McNear and an informative essay from curator Jamie M. Allen broaden our understanding of photography and how it has been used to record the glory of the garden. The book features photographers from all eras, including Anna Atkins, Karl Blossfeldt, Eugène Atget, Edward Steichen, Imogen Cunningham, Stephen Shore, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Collier Schorr. This sublime and beautiful book brings together some of the most stunning photography in the history of the medium.

Archival pigment print
Paper Size: 20 x 28 inches
Image Size: 16 x 24 inches
Edition of 20 and 4 Artist’s Proofs
Signed and numbered by the artist

Sam Abell (b. 1945, Sylvania, Ohio) is dedicated to achieving artistic expression through documentary photography. He has pursued his goals primarily through his lengthy, in-depth coverages for National Geographic magazine and its Book Division. At the same time, he has maintained a career as an artist, teacher, and author. In 1990 Mr. Abell’s work was the subject of a one-person exhibition at the International Center of Photography, New York City. A companion book, Stay This Moment. In addition to his photography, Mr. Abell is a member of the board of the Director of the Santa Fe Center For Photography, the George Eastman House, and the University of Virginia Art Museum. In 2002, he collaborated with Leah Bendavid-Val on a retrospective of his life and work, titled Sam Abell: The Photographic Life, published by Rizzoli. He also authored the book Seeing Gardens, published in 2001.