Eva Nemeth is an inspirational creative, drawing out the beauty of space with her unique garden photography. Her outstanding sensibility to capture the light and enhance the beauty of abundantly designed gardens, small artisan plots or her own sacred green space has led her to be regularly published in some of the most renowned magazines such as House&Garden UK, Country Living UK, Gardens Illustrated and many more.

Yet seeing and capturing beauty started long before she moved to a rural village in England or decided to combine her passion for photography with her passion for gardening:

Growing up in Hungary Eva was always surrounded by a myriad of garden treasures:
Whether it was the vegetables that her grandmother grew or the scattered wildflowers that sparked the imagination whenever or wherever they would pop up: “Flowers just happened” says Eva about her grandmothers garden that she remembers fondly “She only planned the vegetable growing side of things. It was somewhat organized but a wild garden at the same time. And full of old fruit trees.”

Eventually picking up a camera and starting to take images in her teenage years, Eva became a French language teacher later working for a French company in Hungary before fully emerging herself in her craft of photography: “I just believed in my style so it never really was a struggle and I haven’t felt I needed to compromise.” Eva adds.

One intercontinental move and a few experiences later she uses her teaching background to bring a slice of her magic to others: With group classes or 1-2-1 sessions she shares her experiences and her perspectives of gardens. However she always goes back to the elements within
photography that mean the most to her: “Anything that makes you stop, that makes you look at an image for much longer than a second. This anything can sometimes be the composition or the light or the subject matter or the movement or the combination of it all.”

With garden photography as a full time job luckily no day looks the same and Eva shared a little bit of what a day could look like: “In general, I try to shoot in the morning and in the evening (especially if it’s a garden shoot) I often spend my time driving or editing between two shoots so if I can do something else, that’s always great. I love discovering new places, visiting local gardens, museums, anything like this. Oh, a perfect day is also just one that I can spend weeding in my own garden. Another perfect day is when I teach as I absolutely love that too.” And she even has a favourite light she likes to shoot with: “When it clears out after a storm or just before a storm, the light then is so magical however I do like all sort of light except of course, harsh sunshine.” she says whilst smiling.

Her own garden, besides her changing surroundings, is another inspiration rooted in her childhood experiences. She often shares stories or images of her own garden which she enjoys tending to as much as she enjoys going out to shoot: “The most joyous is doing some really physical work in the garden, digging or fighting with ground elder, and getting so tired that bits of my body ache and then sitting down with a drink and just listening to the birds and looking at the finished job, that brings me most joy. My favourite plants are snowdrops, foxgloves and gooseberry.”
Foxgloves being the one plant Eva could not live without in her garden.

With her love for gardening and gardens comes the love for flower seeds and the wonder that can be experienced when seeing them grow into mature plants. So much so, that she created images of her flower seeds and blooms that granted her a finalist award of the International Garden Photographer of the Year 2014 as well as an exhibition at Kew Gadens. But that is not the only highlight says Eva: “As cheesy as it sounds, I just love every time I get to photograph a new garden. Every time I shoot is a highlight of its own.”

“When I was still working for Velux but already working on my photography portfolio, I went to shoot a garden and on the way there, I was listening to BBC4’s Desert Island Disc with Kirsty Young and her guest was Dan Pearson. That program then and there touched me so much. I’m a photographer not a writer so I cannot really describe it but that moment was just wow. Later, I photographed gardens designed by Dan, I photographed Dan himself and I absolutely love his writing style too. But also, who would have thought, I got a a private commission from Kirsty too. So yes, number one inspiration is Dan Pearson. But just as with the favourites gardens, every person inspires me in a way and I get so much from everyone.”

Even though Eva is constantly traveling and creating images of inspiring gardens or for inspirational designers whether they are based in England or around the globe she admits that: “The wildflower meadows and wilderness of the Balkan countries are very high on my wish list at the moment”, and that it is difficult to pick one particular garden that she adores most being in besides her own.

Eva may not be able to share all of her exciting projects that are coming up this year just yet, but you can still catch her and a glimpse of her magic in person on different occasions, like her seasonal floral filled flatlay courses at the Daylesford Farm in Gloucestershire, starting on the 7th of February 2020 with several dates throughout the year.

“Let’s just say, I very much look forward to the new year too and I cannot wait to explore new gardens. And then share them with you.”

If you need more inspiration and want to stay in the loop then be sure to follow Eva´s stories and images on her inspiring Instagram and read her ever evolving ideas and creations on her blog: https://www.evanemeth.com/blog