“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.” — Helen Keller.
To honor May Day’s celebration of working people and their human rights, here are some workers I’ve photographed over the years. 1- Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Washington 2006
2- South Beach Dredging Site, Fort Pierce, Florida 2005
3- Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant, Mississippi II 2006
4- Martin Urbanski, Holyoke Fireman 2001
5- Pablo and Tito López, Epstein and Weiss Maintenance Men 2000
6- Joyce Peetz, Epstein Furniture Bookkeeper for 50 Years 2000
7- Camp Lighthouse II, Chalmette, Louisiana 2005
8- Charlie Peetz, Epstein Furniture Service Repairman for 50 Years 2000
9- Clifford M. Collins, Parson’s Paper Company Employee 2001
10- Charles J. Wright, Parson’s Paper Company Employee 2001#
11- Officer Jane Deshais, Holyoke Police Department 2001
In honor of Earth Day, some photographs from my series New York Arbor, which celebrates the cooperation between human society and trees. Today, I bow to nature’s beauty and resilience, and to New Yorkers, who love and care for our trees.
From the Afterword: “I chose to photograph the trees of New York…in black and white, even though I’d worked in color almost exclusively for the past forty years. Color would have distracted from the primary focus I wanted to place on the trees. I worked only with analogue tools (negative film and optical silver gelatin prints) to achieve an image unmediated by technology; one that would resonate with the life of the tree and of the human hand that had crafted the print. / The city’s Parks Department as well as ordinary citizens seek to help trees at every turn…Yet a tension remains between people and trees—avatars of the wilderness. I wanted to describe the tension of an urban world that cultivates things wild.”
1- Eastern Cottonwood, Sprague Avenue, Staten Island II 2011
2- American Elm, Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn 2012
3- Tulip Tree, Alley Pond Park, Queens II 2011
4- English Elm, Washington Square Park, New York 2012
5- Caucasian Wingnut, Brooklyn Botanic Garden II 2011
6- Weeping Beech, Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2011
7- English Elm, St. Nicholas Avenue, New York 2012
8- Silver Linden, Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2011
9- Ginkgo Tree, MacDonough Street, Brooklyn 2012
10- American Elm, Central Park, New York 2011
New York Arbor @steidlverlag
I’m delighted to announce that the National Gallery of Art has acquired my archive—1261 prints representing my work over the past fifty years. I cannot imagine a better home for my work, much of which probes the meaning of being American, than in our nation’s museum. Profound thanks to Sarah Greenough, Diane Waggoner, Kaywin Feldman, and everyone in the NGA department of photography for their enthusiasm and rigor.
1) Diane Waggoner at Bark Frameworks
2) Studio prep with Romek Rasenas @romek_rasenas and Anna Dantas / photos @annadantasart
Thank you to Romek Rasenas, Anna Dantas, Ryan Spencer, and Vincent Bezuidenhout for their tireless support on this project.
Special thanks to Susan Bell, my wife and long-time collaborator, for being in the art trenches with me over so many years. As my editor, Susan’s perceptive reading of my work and ability to listen with all her senses has made an indelible contribution to my practice.
Thank you to the innumerable friends and colleagues who have generously supported my work. 🙏
@ngadc
Nature as witness 🌳 American Arbor by Mitch Epstein brings together photographs from three major series created over the past two decades, tracing the complex relationship between landscape, industry, and time.
From trees standing near power plants in American Power to the dense stillness of Hoh Rain Forest and the monumental presence of ancient specimens in Old Growth, Epstein reveals how natural forms quietly record the impact of human activity. These works move between vulnerability and endurance, inviting reflection on how environments are shaped, preserved, and transformed.
Known for helping pioneer fine-art colour photography, Epstein approaches the landscape with both visual precision and ethical clarity, allowing each image to unfold as a meditation on coexistence and responsibility.
On view on the second floor at Zander Galerie Cologne through 22 May 2026. We invite you to discover the exhibition 🌿
______
Installation views of Mitch Epstein, American Arbor, Zander Galerie Cologne, 2026. #MitchEpstein #AmericanArbor #ZanderGalerie #CologneArt #ContemporaryPhotography
Grateful for our inspired family trip to Japan:
1) Mitch, Lucia, Susan, Tokyo
2) Lucia, Enoura Observatory, Odawara Art Foundation
3) Kyu Asakura House, Tokyo
4) Kamigamo Shrine, Kyoto
5) Tange Kenzo’s Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building w/ceramic tile wall art by Inokuma Genichiro, Takamatsu
6) Train conductor, Tokyo
7) Lucia, Enoura Observatory, Odawara Art Foundation
8) Moss Garden, Saihoji Temple, Kyoto
9) Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima
10) Kyoko and Tomoko, Ryokan Yoshida Sanso, Kyoto
11) Tawaraya Ryokan, Kyoto
12) Kyoto
13) Kyoto
14) Tokyo
14) Yasufumi and Susan, Tokyo
15) Lucia and Susan, Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima
16) Susan, Mitch, Andreas, Tokyo
17) Lucia, Mitch, Susan, Tokyo
Photos 1,16, 17 @luuuuush
It’s been more than four years since the passing of our beloved friend, Mikio Shinagawa, who was also the godfather to our daughter Lucia. We went to Japan to visit his gravesite and spend precious time with his family in Kyoto. @omen_azen #omenginkakuji
1) Shinagawa Family gravesite, Honen-in Temple
2) Hieizan Enryaku-ji Temple
3) Saiho-ji Temple moss garden
4) Philosopher’s Path, Ginkakujicho
5) Shimogamo-jinja Shrine
6) Katsura Imperial Villa
7) Saiho-ji Temple moss garden
8) Ryokan Yoshida Sanso
9) Mikio’s shrine at Yoshida Sanso
10) Kyoko Nakamura + Lucia
11) Kyoko, Tomoko, Kota, Susan
12) Kyoko + Tomoko
48 Hours in Kanazawa, Japan
1/2: 21st Century Museum
3: Samurai District
4/9: Central
5/10: Machiya on Asano River
6: Castle
7: D.T. Suzuki Museum
8: Tea Shop
11: Kenrokuen Garden
Honored to be featured in the current issue of Aperture @aperturefnd with a beautiful essay by poet Dan Beachy-Quick excerpted here:
Our childhood haunts later haunt us. Epstein, as an adolescent bristling at suburbia’s confines and the strictures of his boarding school, sought refuge in the Berkshire woods, in Western Massachusetts, getting high and getting lost in the forest of his childhood. Such wandering seeks no destination or arrival, nor is it exactly an escape. The hope is for a proper bewilderment that undoes the awful straight lines of familial and social pressures, those stifling forces of sturdy expectation. The woods are a space of initiation, redolent in the American imagination, where Henry David Thoreau built his cabin to live life more deliberately. Those early days in the woods, Epstein’s induction into the wild care the forest provides, imprinted in him the fate of an inevitable return, no longer a teenager fleeing the limits of his world but the grown man returning as an artist who has learned to do this hardest thing: to see.
In 2010, Susan and I fulfilled a promise to our daughter, Lucia, and gave her a dog on her 12th birthday. Little did we know how our lives would change, graced with Ginger’s love, companionship, eccentricity, and boundless good spirit. 2009-2025 🙏❤️
May love, music, books, art, time in the forest, a sated belly, good health, and fun times restore and sustain you in 2026. / Sequoia National Park, California 2022
