Grab Your Camera! Caribbean Garden Photography Returns
Posted in Adult Education, Exhibitions, Photography on January 20 2012, by Matt Newman
This year’s Caribbean Garden promises to be even more photogenic than the last! The picturesque fronds and flowers of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory‘s permanent collection once again take the spotlight to promote not only the beauty you see, but the beauty you create.
Walk the pathways of the Conservatory on a tour of our verdant living collections. Award-winning photos from the International Garden Photographer of the Year contest–taken in gardens around the world–will be on display alongside plants from around the Caribbean. Enjoy the beautiful photographs and access additional information on the photographers, their inspiration, and the techniques they used to capture these stunning images by simply scanning a code on each sign with your smartphone. And on Sundays, join one of two accomplished photographers for a brief course on the basics of garden shooting.
Whether you’re green to the art or just looking to brush up on your technique, come for some winter weather relief and don’t forget your camera.
Coming off last year’s successful Caribbean Garden stint as our resident photography expert, Rich Pomerantz returns in 2012 to give demonstrations, offer pointers, and supply helpful photo critiques on Sundays between 1 and 3 p.m. Joining him will be Alan Detrick, a regular face in our Adult Education teaching pool with several photography workshops already under his belt. Between the two of them, their combined portfolios are rather impressive: each has had photos published in numerous gardening magazines, books, and advertisements both here and abroad.
Of course, while skill with a camera is its own reward, we’re sweetening the pot again this year. From opening day on January 21 through March 10 we will once again be hosting the Caribbean Garden Photography Contest! We will be choosing Grand Prize winners in two categories, and the prizes continue the theme of inspiration and learning: gift certificates good toward Adult Education classes at the Garden!
Last year’s contestants worked their way through a challenging field of competition while chasing the prize. Take a look at a few of the winners from 2011:
[Not a valid template]Weekly winners will be chosen by a panel of NYBG experts from the photographs receiving the most praise from their fellow photographers in our Flickr group pool. Be sure to check out our dedicated contest page for all the details on how to get started.
So come to Caribbean Garden and help us celebrate our newly-forged partnership with the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition, enjoy the warmth of the Conservatory, and glean inspiration from these beautiful photographs.
The New York Botanical Garden is the U.S. partner in this globally recognized contest of photographic excellence, and we are absolutely ecstatic to be partnered with IGPOTY in spreading the joy of garden photography. We are hoping that you will use the Caribbean Garden Photography Contest as a way to brush up on your skills for the 2012 contest–for which IGPOTY will begin accepting submissions in mid-2012. Winners of each year’s IGPOTY competition earn worldwide recognition for their work and skill, and take home thousands of dollars in prize money as well. Think of our humble winter challenge as a springboard toward more worldly ambitions–a win in IGPOTY might just fund that mind-bendingly expensive telephoto lens you’ve been drooling over.
Do you think you have it in you to try your hand at our contest? We hope so! The more people snapping away, the more exciting the challenge. But even if you don’t feel like putting yourself in the spotlight, I still recommend coming for our Sunday afternoon mini-workshops. I’m a big proponent of “skill collecting”–as I like to call it–and that camera you got for your birthday could use a little attention. Who knows? Every now and then, moments like these turn into lifelong passions.
Purchase your Conservatory ticket online to make things easier. Photography workshops will be open to all Caribbean Garden visitors Sunday afternoons between 1 and 3 p.m. Come back to Plant Talk in coming weeks to see the participants–and winners–of our photography contest.
