{"id":68660,"date":"2025-06-07T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.saigonbiz.com.vn\/2025\/06\/07\/american-botanical-council-acquires-full-rights-to-steven-foster-photo-library\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T00:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:02:15","slug":"american-botanical-council-acquires-full-rights-to-steven-foster-photo-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.saigonbiz.com\/vn\/american-botanical-council-acquires-full-rights-to-steven-foster-photo-library\/","title":{"rendered":"American Botanical Council Acquires Full Rights to Steven Foster Photo Library"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The nonprofit now owns more than 150,000 images of 1,700+ species of medicinal and aromatic plants taken by famed photographer and herbal expert<\/em><\/p>\n

Austin, Texas, June 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) announces that it has obtained ownership rights to the entire collection of medicinal and aromatic plant photographs taken by the late botanist, author, and preeminent photographer Steven Foster (1957\u20132022).
Foster was well-known and widely respected as the author or co-author of 21 books on herbs and medicinal plants. He also wrote more than 800 articles and reviews on herbal medicine, ethnobotany, sustainable sourcing, conservation, and related subjects, including more than 100 articles and reviews in ABC\u2019s peer-reviewed journal\u00a0HerbalGram.<\/em><\/p>\n

His extensive photographic library includes more than 150,000 images of more than 1,700 accurately identified medicinal and aromatic plant species. This includes Foster\u2019s photos of many native American medicinal plants, as well as other plants he encountered during his travels in countries around the world, including Argentina, Armenia, Belize, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, England, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Peru, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Foster was a member of ABC\u2019s Board of Trustees for more than 20 years and president\u00a0for 10 years. He provided frequent and instrumental support for\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>\u00a0and served as a contributing editor, peer reviewer, and author of dozens of feature-length articles. He also contributed hundreds of medicinal plant photos from his extensive library, including at least 60 photos that appeared on the magazine\u2019s cover. His photography filled nearly every issue of\u00a0HerbalGram\u00a0<\/em>since issue 24 in 1991.<\/p>\n

After Foster\u2019s untimely death in January 2022, ABC continued to have access to and permission to use his photos in a variety of ABC publications and communications through a special arrangement with his estate. ABC continued to feature his photos on ABC\u2019s website, in publications of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP), and in\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>, ABC\u2019s monthly newsletter HerbalEGram, ABC\u2019s weekly newsletter Herbal News & Events, and other ABC publications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, ABC has finalized the purchase of Foster\u2019s entire digital photo library, including full rights to all of the images. Credits to Foster\u2019s photographs will now read: \u201cPhoto by Steven Foster \u00a92025 ABC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than 40 years, Steven was a close personal friend and colleague and a primary contributor to ABC\u2019s nonprofit research and educational mission, publications, and programs,\u201d said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. \u201cSteven\u2019s intelligence, botanical knowledge, insightful and deeply informed writing, and his compelling photography were an integral part of the development and evolution of\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>\u00a0and ABC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been ABC\u2019s goal not only to provide authoritative, reliable, science-based information on herbs and medicinal plants, but also to show the beauty of these plants, which we have done for decades thanks in large part to Steven\u2019s incredibly beautiful photos,\u201d Blumenthal added. \u201cNow, ABC has the opportunity to continue its nonprofit educational mission with Steven\u2019s photos and to help expand the herb community and general public\u2019s awareness of and appreciation for Steven\u2019s remarkable photographic legacy.<\/p>\n

ABC Art Director Matt Magruder said: \u201cSecuring the ownership of Steven Foster\u2019s photography library is an exciting new chapter for\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>\u00a0and all of ABC\u2019s various programs and publications. Steven\u2019s photography has been a foundational \u2014 and visually stunning \u2014 part of the organization from early on. As a fellow photographer, I am grateful to be able to honor Steven and to continue to share his quintessential photographic legacy through ABC\u2019s stewardship moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael J. Balick, PhD, member of ABC\u2019s Board of Trustees and\u00a0vice president for botanical science, director and senior philecology curator of the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, said: \u201cI was delighted to learn that ABC has acquired the Steven Foster Photo Library. Steven\u2019s \u2018plant\u2019s eye view\u2019 was nothing short of extraordinary, and this is reflected in all of the artistic and scientific work that he did over so many decades. He was enthusiastic and generous about sharing his talents as a photographer and providing his guidance to anyone who asked for his advice, regardless of their level of botanical sophistication. When I invited him to illustrate the third edition of the\u00a0Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants<\/em>\u00a0[Springer, 2017], he provided his best work, and the photos that grace the pages of this reference book are not only useful for identification in cases of suspected poisoning, but also works of beautifully composed botanical art. We all miss Steven, who left us prematurely, and I am grateful to ABC and its donors for ensuring that this part of his legacy will endure, educating and captivating us all for many more decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blumenthal noted that, at a time when people are beginning to use artificial intelligence as a source for botanical images, one primary benefit of Foster\u2019s photographs is the reliable and accurate identification of the depicted plant species. As an expert botanist, Foster properly identified the botanicals in his photos. Aside from the beauty of the photos, this benefit is a key feature of ABC\u2019s Steven Foster Photo Library.<\/p>\n

ABC featured a\u00a0memorial tribute<\/a>\u00a0to Steven Foster in\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>\u00a0issue 133 and a\u00a0pictorial<\/a>\u00a0of some of his medicinal plant photography in issue 134. A new\u00a0pictorial<\/a>\u00a0of Foster\u2019s brilliant medicinal plant photos was just published in the current issue of\u00a0HerbalGram<\/em>, issue 143.\u00a0In addition, ABC has named its newest award for botanical excellence after Foster, the\u00a0ABC\u00a0Steven Foster Excellence in Botanical Conservation and Sustainability Award<\/a>, which is announced each spring at the annual ABC Celebration at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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