This project is the result of a commission from Fernbank Museum to document Fernbank, a 65 acre old-growth forest in Atlanta proper, during a period of restoration. Essick photographed the forest for two years with the goal to produce a personal vision of this natural ecosystem that can coexist with a large metropolitan city. The book contains an insightful essay by Janisse Ray, an American author whose work grapples with the beauty, intricacy, and heartbreak of the biosphere. She tells the story of how Emily Harrison worked to preserve the forest beginning in the 1930s.