KLATCH Author
Peter J. Vagt
About Peter J. Vagt
Peter J. Vagt is an environmental scientist and a landscape photographer. For more than 20 years, Peter found his landscape muse at The Morton Arboretum, a 1700-acre museum of trees in the western suburbs of Chicago. An admirer of Claude Monet’s willingness to go local and go small in his Giverny-related landscapes, Peter’s patient photographic eye offers us the transcendent beauty he finds, in simple tree scenes and along the shore of a small pond or on the bank of a small stream.
Why Peter creates
An admirer of Claude Monet’s willingness to go local and go small in his Giverny-related landscapes, Peter’s patient photographic eye offers us the transcendent beauty he finds, in simple tree scenes and along the shore of a small pond or on the bank of a small stream. It is tempting to think that we need grand landscapes like Yosemite or the Big Sur coast to experience nature. But these photos show us the beauty and wonder of nature are available to us on a walk in a Midwestern woodland or in a flourish of last year’s grass still standing on the edge of a prairie.
Peter's Book
Light Through the Trees, by Peter Vagt
“I don’t compose pictures, I find them in the colors, patterns, and shadows of the trees in front of me. While I walk, I let my feelings well up in my consciousness. My feelings guide me to find what I’m seeing and feeling and distill it into a picture.”
A beloved and popular Illinois institution, The Morton Arboretum welcomes one million annual visitors to walk its trails and view the 4,200 tree species on the grounds. Peter Vagt has photographed the Arboretum for over twenty years. This collection showcases eighty-five of his favorite works, each one in full color. Vagt's close attention to place and time reflects both his profound connection to the Arboretum and its preeminence as a sanctuary for anyone in search of transcendence in nature.
A celebration of The Morton Arboretum in its centenary year, Light Through the Trees is the perfect keepsake or gift for anyone who admires trees and believes in their restorative power.
What is Peter working on now?
(Coming soon)
Find Peter on social media