A Clearing in the Woods: Creating Contemporary Gardens Hardcover – November 3, 2009

This is a must have book for gardeners, garden photographers and anyone who loves to look at beautiful things. Roger's photography of gardens is as good as it gets. His attention to the details of light and angle put him in the forefront of garden photography.

Love this book

This lovely book presents atmospheric photographs of wonderful green gardens which draw you right in. The spirit of landscaping is captured in many different settings and each makes you want to walk in and sit.

Roger Foley is the best landscape photographer shooting today. Most garden photographers don't see beyond a single flower, shrub or tree, but Foley shows how the context of these spaces -- the shape, volume, color, and architecture -- emphasize the experience of the natural world. Like many designers/landscape architects, I keep his book on the corner of my desk and go to it for inspiration. This one I was particularly interested in since one can hear his voice. Nothing stuffy about his writing -- gardens are made because of the needs of a pig or how the koi become gum drops for the blue heron. The publisher's decision to keep all the horticultural text to one page allowed the viewer to focus on just the photo essays. Visiting a garden is so visceral; I never think words can express the experience. Without a doubt, Roger Foley's photographs do; they transport one to, as he aptly titled it "A Clearing in the Woods" that place one got to live in lucky childhoods.

Roger Foley’s photos are as artfully constructed as the notable homes and gardens they frame. A great photographer—and Roger is certainly one—has the power to make time stand still. The hours of the day stop ticking. The seasons of the year cease advancing. An image becomes eternal. A Clearing in the Woods is a magnificent series of such moments. This book inspires imagination, intrigues perception, settles and centers the soul. What a gift to have or give!

Roger Foley is both author and photographer of A Clearing in the Woods. An award-winning photographer, the pictures in this book reflect his usual high standard. An added delight is to discover that Foley also is a fine writer. He introduces each garden with a succinct description that gives the reader a clear idea of the garden and the process that went into creating it. Then follows a photographic "essay" of each garden, drawing in the reader so you feel you are there.With the exception of Longhouse Reserve, a sculpture garden in East Hampton, New York that is open to the public, all twenty-six of Foley's featured properties are private. Hence, this book gives readers a rare opportunity to "see beyond the garden wall" into the cutting edge creations of some of the country's top landscape designers, including Raymond Jungles, Edwina von Gal, Charles Stick, and Oehme, van Sweden & Associates.

Just placed an order for Roger's book. He has an amazing talent for capturing a landscape. I am a Landscape Architect and have comissioned Roger to photograph several projects for awards competitions and marketing materials.

The price was low and it's a nicely done book but the gardens are more formal and upscale than I hoped. The photography is interesting.