Whisper Editions

Visual History:

Andrea Gentl

Andrea Gentl is a photographer in New York City. As half of the husband-and-wife team Gentl and Hyers, she shoots striking interiors, portraits and travel photography for the likes of Martha Stewart, Bon Appétit and Condé Nast Traveler. But she is perhaps best known for her singularly gorgeous still lifes of decomposing organic material.

Scrapbook Pages, Age 3

These are pages from a scrapbook belonging to Gentl's grandparents. "I used to pour over it constantly as a child, looking for visual clues of my family," she says. "It was my first introduction to photography."

Sticks and Dried Flowers, Age 8

This collection of shells and sticks and dried flowers represents Gentl's lifelong obsession with collecting and gathering natural things. "I have never been able to go anywhere without filling my pockets with bits of debris, pieces of string and bone," she says.

Birch Bark, Age 18

Gentl found this piece of birch bark in the woods. Growing up in the woods of Western Massachusetts, Gentl had a very outdoorsy childhood. "I collect organic bits and pieces," she says. "Maybe it is a way I deal with living in the city."

Photography Books, Age 21

Gentl's early photography influences include Sally Mann, Irving Penn and Josef Sudek. Their iconic work is captured in books Gentl collects.

Fading Peony, 2013

Gentl recently took this photograph of a peony. "I find things are more beautiful as they age," she says. "Sometimes I open a book and find a flower that I had put there twenty years ago, and to me it is still as beautiful in its faded and dusty way."

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