It took a particularly bad day at work and a subsequent visit to a botanical garden to steer Samuel Zeller down another career path. Working as a designer at the time, Zeller stopped at the gardens to let off steam, and found calmness amidst the plants and flowers. He shot his first 10 images of plant life against the frosted greenhouse glass façades that afternoon, kickstarting the project titled Botanical, which has since gained well-deserved recognition in art and photography circles, and published as a book of the same title.
Zeller’s images are reminiscent of the Impressionist works of Manet and Renoir, their faint colours and hazy forms pressed against glass. Poetic and painterly, his images of greenhouses across Belgium, Scotland, Poland and France seek out glimpses of nature protected from the elements; subtle reminders of how life carries on at its own pace, slowly but surely, in our rapidly changing world.
“It took me 26 years to understand how fragile life can be and how important it is for us to slow down and do what we love,” Zeller muses. “I guess that all good things take time to grow.”
Botanical by Samuel Zeller is published by Hoxton Mini Press.
Images © Samuel Zeller / with permission