Tom Hegen Reveals the Abstract Beauty of Greens and Gardens

Last Updated on 05/18/2019 by Mark Beckenbach

All photos by Tom Hegen. Used with permission.

Refreshing gardens and verdant locations are eye-catching on their own, but we can trust Tom Hegen to them to us in new and remarkable ways. Last time we saw him work with foliage; he transformed stretches of man-made forests into minimalist art. In yet another beautiful aerial series, the Munich-based photographer took inspiration from gardens, cultivation sites, and patches of green to reveal the abstract charm that can only come from the view above.

The Cultivation Series, according to Hegen, is dedicated to the art of gardening and the breeding of bushes, trees, and crops. “At places like cities, roads or recreation areas, we carefully grow what we have taken down and sealed. Now we arrange a facsimile of nature, a botanical notation.” As we’ve already seen in his other masterpieces, there’s a clear emphasis on the shapes, lines, and patterns formed by the unique perspective of aerial photography. While there’s no doubt that these locations already look well-arranged in the normal view, they have a different sense of order when seen from above. There’s also still a touch of abstract here and there, and it’s easy to imagine them done with dabs or paint or watercolor as minimalist artworks.

With The Cultivation Series showcasing a more dominantly verdant color scheme compared to The Botanical Series, it’s also a good example of how to make similar subjects stand out from each other. Both also have similar features of trees and bushes looking like blobs and strokes of green, but Cultivation definitely has more variations with all the colorful lines and patterns. Still, textures are actually the star of the show for this series, especially with the neat and colorful lines of plants and flowers that closely resemble tapestries.

If you like this series, make sure to check out Tom Hegen’s website, Instagram and Behance portfolio to see more of his impressive aerial photography.