Gardens at First Light

Celebrated garden photographer Stacy Bass has long called daybreak her true muse. For her second book, the award-winning artist went behind the gates of a dozen private gardens in the Northeast to capture these incredible landscapes in the most enchanting light of day. She s curated the best images from each of these shoots into a volume filled with 200-plus color photographs. Gardens at First Light is one of the most spectacular collections of images in the nature photography category.

With Gardens at First Light, Bass offers a rare and privileged glimpse of a range of stunning private retreats located in some of the wealthiest enclaves in the country. Her work showcases a variety of garden types, from those taking root along serene shorelines to others blooming in rolling hills near open farmland. The diversity makes for a rich visual mix. Some gardens are grand in scale and others are more modest, yet the landscape design for each took years to come to fruition. Bass s camera takes readers on an intimate tour of each property to tell the story of the individual gardens. She trains her lens on her subjects with the same care and attention that the gardeners lavished on their verdant flowers and foliage.

Photos are accompanied by text from Judy Ostrow. This seasoned journalist who has been reporting on homes and gardens for two decades through work published in national magazines and books talked to the owners of each garden to learn how the landscapes gradually came to life. Their stories will strike a chord with those who have a penchant for gardening, nature and design.

Gardens at First Light also contains an illustrated resource guide at the back of the book that offers additional information on the featured gardens. Hand-drawn sketches show a bird s eye view of each property, and photos reveal how the landscape elements identified in the sketches look through Bass s lens. Text presents insight on how the gardens took shape. The resource guide is to be used as a cross-reference for the book's main chapters. It's designed for readers who seek a broader understanding of the individual elements in each garden, and how they make up the whole. Though not a how-to planner, this section offers clarity and endless inspiration.

This is the second volume of garden photography from Stacy Bass. Her first book, In the Garden, was published in 2012 and became a bestselling title in its category. The book received critical acclaim from major publications in the home design and garden industry. Gardens at First Light is a sequel of sorts, only this new volume has been designed to offer readers an even more detailed look at gardens that are one-of-a-kind.