Unsung Heroes of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Earlier this year, I was commissioned by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to photograph Dr Julia Knights, the new Regius Keeper. The assignment gave me a glimpse of a world that most visitors never see: the nurseries, laboratories and seed banks, and the extraordinary knowledge and care required to sustain the gardens’ living collections.

I came away thinking less about the plants and the gardens themselves, but more about the people who look after them.

A botanic garden is much more than a beautiful landscape. Behind all the collections is a wealth of specialist knowledge, years of experience and an understanding of plants that can take a lifetime to develop. There is patient, often painstaking work, carried out in all weathers and across the seasons. Much of it happens quietly, away from public view, but it is fundamental to everything the gardens stand for.

That was the starting point for this personal project: to make portraits of some of the people whose work, knowledge and dedication make the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh the amazing place that it is.

Over the summer, I visited all four gardens — Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore — photographing horticulturists, curators, arborists, glasshouse specialists and others who contribute to their care. Each garden has its own character, shaped not only by its landscape and plant collections, but by the people who know it intimately.

I wanted the portraits to reflect that connection. I looked for ways to photograph people in their own working environment: among the plants they tend, in the spaces they know so well, and surrounded by the details of their everyday work. My aim was to make pictures that feel natural and considered, revealing something of each person’s character and their relationship with the place.

There is also a personal reason why this project means a great deal to me.

My dad was a passionate and knowledgeable amateur plantsman, and a lifelong collector of rhododendrons and hydrangeas. As a member of the Scottish Rhododendron Society, he spent many years cultivating and showing his plants. When I was young, I spent countless hours walking gardens with him, searching for plant labels or trying to identify a species from its leaves, bark or indumentum. The gardens featured in this project were among the places we visited together.

Since his death last autumn, I have found myself thinking about those days, and about the depth of knowledge and commitment that lies behind a lifelong interest in plants. This project has given me a wonderful reason to revisit some of those places.