2012 IGPOTY Winners Announced!
Posted in Photography on March 6 2013, by Matt Newman
“… The photographer has waited for exactly the right moment, on the right day and he has made a huge effort to be in the right place. The ‘Wildflower Landscapes’ category is all about plants in their natural environment, and this image is a fantastic example of the sheer tenacity and adaptability of plant life.”
— Philip Smith – International Garden Photographer of the Year Project Director
Have you been biting your nails much over the final results of the International Garden Photographer of the Year contest? I admit we’ve done a bit of that! Not least because our exclusive U.S. partnership with IGPOTY garners us our own unique photo category among the many being judged for the 2013 announcement. It’s pretty exciting stuff! And with long lists of entrants, an even greater number of photographs to judge, and a fierce level of competition between some of the world’s most capable nature photographers, the stakes are high enough to warrant the nerves. But no longer!
We’ve been waiting for the results since November, and now that they’re here, we’re more than happy to share some of the winners with you–both the champions standing on the overall podium and those that took home the purse in our own “Nature’s Pharmacy” category. The hope is that these images will inspire professional and amateur photographers alike to get outside and start practicing for the next competition. And if that doesn’t work, well, I suppose the thousands of dollars in prize money on offer might nudge you out of your hesitation.
For the sixth annual IGPOTY competition, themes ranged from the wide open vistas of “Breathing Spaces” to the critter cam action shots of “Wildlife in the Garden.” And with so many photographers from myriad countries participating, the final tally of winning shots proved incredibly diverse. To go from the deserts of Arizona to a family of fox kits playing on a dewy English lawn shows the far-reaching influence of this important competition! Even NYBG visitors got in on the action, with Annemarie Farley (as seen above) taking commendations in the Portfolio category for her painterly photographs of our Monet’s Garden exhibition. For its part, “Nature’s Pharmacy” wrangled shots not only from New Yorkers, but Canada, the U.K., and even Cameroon. Not too shabby. And if you look closely at the names in the gallery below, you might catch a familiar winner: Rich Pomerantz, who’s worked with the Garden in the past on Tropical Paradise photography education!
[Not a valid template]Like any good sport, the “season” for IGPOTY runs long. Nearly year-round! While we’re only just now seeing the winners of 2012’s contest, entries are already being accepted for the 2013 judging. That should feed you the motivation to hit the fields and forests in search of your perfect photo, regardless of season.
The BBC is hosting a slideshow of some winning photos from the most recent judging, just in case you needed verification of IGPOTY’s significance. Otherwise, you can find them all at the official site. Come May, we’ll also be exhibiting many of those photos as part of a major summer exhibition (we’re on the cusp of announcing that one–stay tuned). So dust off your DSLR and hit the trails, because predicting the perfect scene is rough going when it’s so much easier to be there in the first place.
It’s me!!!!