Since retiring as chairman of global corporate practice at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, attorney Larry Lederman has been busy. He is now serving as counsel to the firm as well as teaching at New York Law School. In the last ten years, Lederman has also become an ace self-taught photographer, primarily focusing on trees and landscapes. The Monacelli Press published his first photography book, Magnificent Trees of the New York Botanical Garden, in October. Lederman started taking photographs of his own extraordinary property in Chappaqua, where he and his wife, interior designer, Kitty Hawks, have spent years unearthing and designing their own garden of earthly delights. “I got emotionally engaged in the beauty of the trees,” Lederman says. This photograph of a magnolia tree in winter looks as abstract and mysterious as an Impressionist painting. Photo: Courtesy of the Monacelli Press
The book is a celebration of the abundance of incredible trees in the New York Botanical Garden. “There is a wonder and a mystery,” Lederman says of his days watching and recording the different moments of light. “They are usually in groves, together. They protect each other; they are not alone.” Photo: Courtesy of the Monacelli Press
Lederman took this photo of the view of the Bronx River in 2003. “It was very early in my exploration of the landscape and the trees. I wanted to catch the light and the feeling of the cold air,” he says. Photo: Courtesy of the Monacelli Press
The book’s striking cover. Photo: Courtesy of the Monacelli Press
