The montage, 43 Gardeners' Hands, is a series of portraits of some of the UK's best known gardeners, focused on just their hands. They have been inspired by the fantastic working collages from the 1920s, of botanical photographer Karl Blossfeldt. His work is almost anatomical and  I wanted to produce a series of images that turned each pair of hands into a botanical specimen, reversing the effect of his work.
 

Sitters include TV presenters, award-winning designers,  nurserymen  and gardening legends such as Beth Chatto, the current Gardener’s World team, the Gardener’s Question Time panel and Alan Titchmarch. Each person has a passion in his or her field, and also a character that can be seen through their most versatile tool.
 
The portraits were taken over a two month period, from December 2008 to January 2009. With the wealth of gardening talent working and developing in the UK the 43 people included in the book is far from comprehensive. My ambition to try to capture them all will be an on-going project.

In May 2009, the final montage was awarded first place in the International Garden Photographer of the Year - People in the Garden Category. It can be seen at Kew Gardens from 23rd May 2009 through to September.