From the delicate new growth that emerges in springtime to jewel-toned fall foliage to winter's brown husks, leaves unfurl, mature, and wither in a life cycle that evokes our own. But a tree's leaves and the protective pods that cradle its seeds not only serve as metaphors for our lives: they actually sustain us. Each leaf plays an essential role, gathering nutrients for the tree and producing oxygen for the planet.

In Leaves & Pods, artist Josie Iselin celebrates the diversity and beauty of these transitory objects with lushly detailed portraits of foliage she has gathered throughout the seasons across the world. As in her previous book, Beach Stones, Iselin arranges found natural objects into striking images, which she produces on a flatbed scanner. In her introduction and captions, nature writer Mary Ellen Hannibal thoughtfully examines leaves and pods in all their variety, explaining why they look as they do and their essential role in supporting life on earth.

Both an art book and a botanical guide, Leaves & Pods reveals the splendor, complexity, and purpose of some of the most common objects in our natural world. This contemplation of nature combines aesthetic delight in familiar objects with scientific fact and philosophical wonder.

Josie Iselin is a photographer and installation artist. She holds a Bachelors degree from in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard and a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco State University. Although her training is in traditional photography, she now produces images exclusively with a flatbed scanner and a computer. Her work has been exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Intersection for the Arts, SF Camerawork, and art galleries in and around San Francisco, where she lives.

Mary Ellen Hannibal writes often about environmental issues. She has worked with the Friends of the Urban Forest, as well as the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. She is also an active member of Kids’ Turn, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children and their parents to cope with divorce, and she wrote the organization’s de facto manual, Good Parenting Through Your Divorce.