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). Recent essays have appeared in AGNI, Arnoldia, Fiction, Orion, Prism International, and Salmagundi 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 and 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.