Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is one of the world's preeminent botanic parks. It is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida.
Fairchild was founded by Robert H.Montgomery (an attorney with a passion for collecting plants) and first opened to the public in 1938. It was named after his friend, David Fairchild (1869-1954), who was one of the greatest plant explorers of all time. The park has an extensive collection of rare tropical plants, and is home to numerous botanical science programs, focusing on research and species and habitat conservation projects aimed at understanding and preserving tropical plant biodiversity.
Although I do not live in the Miami area, I visit many times a year because of family in the area; and always make at least a few treks to Fairchild with my camera. For me, Fairchild represents a meditative oasis filled with a spiritual, resplendent beauty.
This book contains 53 black and white and 15 color images that capture some of my most cherished tranquil "Fairchild moments," and represents an intimate fine-art photographer's view of the park. All photographs were taken between 2000 and 2008.
About the Author
andrew ilachinski
ilachina
Northern Virginia, USA
I am, by training and profession, a physicist, specializing in the modeling of complex adaptive systems (with a Ph.D. in theoretical physics). However, both by temperament and inner muse, I am a photographer, and have been one for far longer than my Ph.D. gives me any right to claim an ownership by physics.
Photography became a life-long pursuit for me the instant my parents gave me a Polaroid instamatic camera for my 10th birthday. I have been studying the mysterious relationship between inner experiences and outer realities ever since.
My creative process is very simple. I take pictures of what calms my soul. There may be other, more poetic words that may be used to define the “pattern” that connects my images, but the simplest meta-pattern is this: I take snapshots of moments in time and space in which a peace washes gently over me, and during which I sense a deep interconnectedness between my soul and the world.
Not Cartier-Bresson’s "Decisive Moment" ..but a "Sudden Stillness."
Publish Date May 16, 2008
Dimensions Standard Landscape 102 pgs
Premium Paper, matte finish
Category Fine Art Photography
Tags fine-art photography, black and white, nature, garden, serenity, meditation, water, tropical, park, tao