Benjamin Swett is a writer and photographer whose books include the essay collection The Picture Not Taken: On Life and Photography and the photo-text narratives Route 22 and New York City of Trees (winner of the New York City Book Award for Photography). His essays have appeared in Agni, Arnoldia, Salmagundi, Orion, The New York Review of Books Online, Prism International, Fiction, and other magazines. He is the author and photographer of guidebooks to the Hudson Valley and to New York City’s Great Trees, and collaborated with the singer/songwriter Heather Woods Broderick to produce the collaborative book/CD of tree photographs and songs Home Winds. A writer and photographer for the New York City Parks Department for many years, Swett founded the Parks in Print program, which produced books, brochures, maps, and guides for parks around New York City’s five boroughs. He teaches writing at City College in Manhattan and is senior photographer for the Notion Archaeological Project in Turkey. He was named the 2024 Larry Lederman Photography Fellow at the New York Botanical Garden. His photographs are in private, corporate, and public collections including the Museum of the City of New York. On Instagram he is @benjaminswettnyc. (Photograph: Harry Wilks)
BOOKS:
- The Picture Not Taken (New York Review Books, 2024)
- Home Winds (with Heather Woods Broderick, Planthouse Books, 2017)
- New York City of Trees (New York: Quantuck Lane Press, 2013; reissued as Trees of New York City by Countryman Press in 2017)
- The Hudson Valley: A Cultural Guide (New York: Quantuck Lane Press, 2009)
- Route 22 (New York, Quantuck Lane Press, 2007)
- Great Trees of New York City: A Guide (New York: New York Tree Trust, 2000)
SOLO EXHIBITS:
- Planthouse Gallery, NYC, “30/30,” 9/12-10/13, 2019
- BCB Art, Hudson, NY, “That Unruly Sun: Interpretations of Shaker Interiors,” 10/20-11/18, 2018
- Planthouse Gallery, NYC, “Home Winds,” April 28-June 22, 2017
- Wave Hill, Bronx, NY “New York City of Trees,” June 2015-March, 2016
- BCB Art, Hudson, NY, “Shin Creek,” October 11-November 9, 2014
- Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, “New York City of Trees,” March 6-April 26, 2013
- Albany International Airport, Concourse A Gallery, “Route 22,” May 2010-January 2011
- Beaverkill Garage, Lew Beach, NY, “Shin Creek,” Dec. 2006-March 2007
- Sand Lake Center for the Arts, Averill Park, NY, “Route 22,” April 2006
- Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY. “Route 22,” Feb-Mar, 2005
- Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY. “Route 22,” June-August, 2004
- Wave Hill, Bronx, NY “New York City Trees,” June-August, 2001
- An American Space Gallery NYC, “Great Trees of New York City,” June-July 2000
SELECTED ESSAYS and ARTICLES:
- “Death of A Tree,” The New York Review of Books Online, July 29, 2025.
- “In the Time of Redbuds,” Arnoldia, Summer 2025.
- “Some Observations in the Galapagos (and elsewhere),” Orion, Winter 2024.
- “Some Thoughts on Tree Books,” Agni Blog, January 8, 2024.
- “The Loss of an Ailanthus,” Arnoldia, Winter 2023-2024. (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2024.)
- “The Beauty of the Camera,” Agni, Spring 2023
- “My Father’s Green Album,” Salmagundi Magazine, No. 210-211, Spring-Summer 2021. (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2022.)
- “What I wanted to tell you about the wind,” Orion, Spring 2021.
- “VR,” Prism International, Spring 2020. (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2021.)
- “The Picture Not Taken,” Fiction Magazine Issue Number 64, September 2019. (Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2020.)
- 30/30, an exhibition catalogue, Planthouse Books, October 2019
- “The Ancients: Lake George’s Ancient Trees,” Adirondack Life (May/June 2014), with Neil Pederson.
- “Trees of New York,” Cabinet (Winter 2012/13, Issue 48).
BOOKS (contributor):
- The Countryside of Aphrodisias (Ann Arbor, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 2017–contributing photographer)
- Waterproofing New York (New York: Terreform, Inc., 2015–contributor)
- Aphrodisias V: The Aphrodisias Regional Survey (Darmstadt/Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern, 2012–contributing photographer).
- Archaeology and the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity (Ann Arbor: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, 2011–contributing photographer)
- New York: A Photographer’s City (New York: Rizzoli, 2011–contributor)
- 100 New York Photographers (New York: Schiffer Books, 2009–contributor)
- New York City Trees: a Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002–contributor)
- Insight Guide, Italy (Singapore, APA Productions, 1986–contributor)
- Insight Guide: New York (Singapore, APA Productions, 1986–contributor)
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS:
- Stand4 Gallery, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. “Bay Ridge Through an Ecological Lens,” 4/15-6/17, 2023
- Hudson Hall, Hudson, NY, “Hudson Athens Light,” 3/23-6/9, 2019
- French Shore Interpretation Center, Conche, NL, “Grandois/St. Julien’s 1977-2015,” August 2016-January 2017
- Hudson Hall, Hudson, NY, “Art Meets Art,” June-August, 2013
- Catskill Art Space, Livingston Manor, NY, “21 : A Life in Photographs,” Sept-Oct 2011
- Hudson Hall, Hudson, NY, “Local Self-Portraits,” June-August, 2010
- G.A.S. Visual Arts, Poughkeepsie, NY, “Bridges and the Span of Time,” Sep-Oct 2009
- Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY, “Surprisingly Natural,” Sep-Oct, 2008
- Catskill Mountain Foundation Gallery, Hunter, NY, “In Full Bloom,” May-June, 2008
- Outsider’s Studio, Livingston Manor, NY, Sep. 1-29, 2007 “Through the Optic Nerve”
- Mt. Sinai-Irving J. Selikoff Center NYC, “Nature in New York,” 2003-2007
- Arsenal Gallery NYC, “Queens Jewels: A History of Queens Parks,” June-Sep 2002
- Michael Ingbar Gallery NYC, “The New York Skyline,” July-November, 2001
- Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY, “Art at Steepletop,” July 2001
- Scott Pfaffman Gallery NYC, “For the Trees,” May-July, 2000
AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES:
- New York Botanical Garden, Larry Lederman Photography Fellow, 2024
- International Grenfell Association 2015 grant for “Creating the Grandois Archive.”
- New-York Society Library, 2013 New York City Book Award for Photography for New York City of Trees
- Furthermore research and publication grants for:
– New York City of Trees (2010, 2012)
– The Hudson Valley: A Cultural Guide (2008)
– Route 22 (2005, 2006) - Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, N.Y. One-Month Residency. (Aug 1999)
- Breadloaf Writer’s Conference, Middlebury, VT “Working Scholar” (Aug 1989)
INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES, REVIEWS, TALKS, READINGS
- New York Botanical Garden. “Why Photograph Trees?” Larry Lederman Fellowship talk and conversation with Eric Sanderson. March 27, 2025.
- Virtual Memories Show Podcast. Episode 617 – a wide-ranging conversation with Gil Roth on The Picture Not Taken: On Life and Photography and much more. December 17, 2024.
- Orion Magazine. Review by Editor-in-Chief Sumanth Prabhaker of “What I Wanted to Tell You About the Wind.” Editor’s Choice, April 14, 2021.
- Northeast Public Radio WAMC. Radio essay by Ralph Gardner Jr. describing a walk we took to a magnificent American Sycamore in the woods behind his Upstate New York house. November 17, 2018.
- BCB Art Gallery, Hudson, NY. Artist’s Talk in conjunction with exhibit, “That Unruly Sun: Interpretations of Shaker Interiors” November 17, 2018.
- WGXC Radio, Hudson, NY. Wide-ranging interview with Ellen Thurston and Tom DePietro about everything from the radicalism of the Shakers to Henry Stern’s Golden Retriever (starts 20 minutes into the program). November 8, 2018.
- Person, Place, Thing. Podcast interview with Randy Cohen concerning William C. Chanler, the Mount Lebanon Shakers, and the beauty of the contact sheet. On the occasion of the publication of Home Winds. June 18, 2017
- gardenista.com. May 10, 2017. Blog Post: “Required Reading: A Mother’s Garden” by Margot Guralnick.
- WPKN’s Live Culture with Martha Willette. Joint radio interview with Heather Woods Broderick on the release of our collaborative song and book, Home Winds. April 29, 2017.
- The New York Times, August 28, 2015. “At Wave Hill, Photos of New York’s Trees, ‘Living Archives’ of the city.” By Tammy La Gorce.
- The Northern Pen, July 25, 2015. “Grandois Hosts 2015 Come Home Year” by Stephen Roberts. Describing my documentation of a reunion in a Newfoundland fishing village.
- The Wall Street Journal. June 8, 2014. Urban Gardner, by Ralph Gardner Jr. “Putting Wave Hill in Focus.”
- WGCX Radio, Hudson, NY. October, 2013. Interview by Richard Roth on The Passage.
- gardenista.com. September 30, 2013. “Required Reading: New York City of Trees by Benjamin Swett,” by Margot Guralnick.
- New York Post. July 7, 2013. “My New York,” full-page spread by Doree Lewak, with quotations from me about and photographs of nine favorite trees around the city.
- Landscape Architecture Magazine. June 2013. “Trees Through the Lens,” by Amanda Hurley.
- NPR National Public Radio. “All Things Considered.” April 30, 2013. “New York: A Concrete Jungle and ‘City of Trees,’ Too.” by Margot Adler.
- The New York Times. April 5, 2013.Bookshelf. Review of New York City of Trees by Sam Roberts.
- The Wall Street Journal. March 20, 2013. Photo Op. Review of New York City of Trees by the editors.
- The New Yorker. March 4, 2013. Profile. “Tree Person,” by Ian Frazier.
EMPLOYMENT
- City College of New York, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English, 2019-present
- Notion Archaeological Project, Ahmetbeyli, Turkey, Senior Photographer, 2015-present
- Wave Hill, Bronx, NY, Photography Instructor, 2008-2022
- Aphrodisias Regional Survey, Photographer, 2006, 2008
- Freelance Writing and Photography, 2001-present
- City of New York/Parks & Recreation, writer and photographer, 1988-2001
- Freelance Writing and Photography, 1985-1988
- The Patent Trader Newspaper, Mount Kisco, NY, reporter, 1984-1985
EDUCATION:
- City College of New York, MFA, Creative Writing, 2019
- Harvard College, BA Magna Cum Laude 1982, English & American Literature.
Benjamin Swett 