Sly Withers - Gardens (Album, 2021, Dew Process)

Debuted on the ARIA charts at number 10 worldwide and number 4 for Australian artists. Feature album on Triple J (week of 14/6/2021).

Design and Illustrations by Annie Walter, photography supplied by myself in conversation with the band and Annie.

I love working alongside extremely talented people in the industry who bring a level of magic to the final outcome that I absolutely could not achieve on my own. Annie has done a vast array of work for Sly, as well as Pot Plant House Party, and I was so thrilled to collaborate on this with her.

After the covers for ‘Cracks’ and ‘Bougainvillea’, I was given the task of putting together a library of images of each of Sam and Joel’s gardens with which a selection would be made and illustrations and design elements would be made over and around this. I did two visits to each to cover different areas of the space at different times of day to make sure the light was perfect for each earmarked spot. The record is named for the conversations and times shared in these spaces, so a sense of nostalgia was important to capture.

All photographs made on a combination of the Hasselblad 500cm, Leica M6 and Nikon D850, with a combination of Kodak Portra 400 and 800. Developing and scanning by Silver Halide Studios. Once final selections were made, the images were edited for consistency of colour, texture and dynamic range between the different formats.