Each year, thousands of photographers from around the world venture out with cameras in tow—into their gardens, their backyards, their local greenmarkets, and the wilderness at large. They all have the same goal, of course, though their subject matter often differs wildly. They’re after one of the most prestigious nature photography prizes out there: The International Garden Photographer of the Year award.
For the 2012 judging, The New York Botanical Garden—the exclusive U.S. partner of IGPOTY—threw its hat in the ring with a special photo category geared toward therapeutic plants, challenging friends, fans, visitors and photographers from all over to capture the very plants and garden imagery that we now feature in our Wild Medicine exhibition. Alongside a cash purse and global recognition, the awards for taking top honors in this challenge included a featured place in our “Nature’s Pharmacy” gallery exhibition, viewable now in our Ross Gallery.
First Overall — Dennis Frates, “Penstemon Sunrise”
“… 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!
This is a super-important reminder, everyone: you have one more day! That’s all that remains of your window to submit photographs to the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition before the judges close up for deliberations. And if you can’t have your submissions in by Friday, November 30, you’ll find yourself waiting at least another anxious year before you have an opportunity to win over $18,000 in prizes, international recognition, and your work in a professional exhibition!
Even if you can’t find the time to hike outdoors in search of that perfect shot, there’s no reason to give up hope–IGPOTY accepts old photos, as well. Just head over to their official competition page for guidelines on what to pull out of your portfolio. In the meantime, here are a few winning photographs from past years to jog your inspiration.
Worldwide exposure, thousands of dollars in prize money, and the chance to see your work displayed alongside that of the globe’s most talented nature photographers–the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition offers a seriously tempting package. But what it doesn’t offer is an infinite submission window! The November 30 deadline is nearly at our doorstep, and as the official U.S. IGPOTY partner, we’re not playing coy about pushing our talented fans and visitors to get their work out in the open.
With a little under three weeks until the contest shutters for 2012, I can’t emphasize enough what an opportunity this is for those who patron The New York Botanical Garden. For professional photographers, IGPOTY is the next step in bolstering your name among garden photography circles; for amateurs, it’s a chance to prove your mettle with the big players. Whichever the case, a win during IGPOTY boils down to a shot in the arm for your photography career (and your bank account).
Not everyone has the patience–or the real estate–for large-scale gardening, some people just have enough for burnaby condos for sale and even with a smaller garden. Honestly, it’s probably not even on the radar for someone who can’t keep a pot of English ivy alive on an office desk. But if you happen to have a knack for beautifying nature through your lens, rather than your trowel, the garden can still prove itself a source of spirited inspiration! That’s why the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition takes place annually. With the prizes just announced for this year’s competition, now is the time to pack up your tripod and do some fieldwork.
With nearly $8000 in cash being awarded to the top winner of this year’s competition, and thousands of dollars up for the taking in the many individual categories of the contest, IGPOTY’s prestige among nature photographers is well-earned. And there’s an added perk for friends of the Garden: as the exclusive U.S. partner of the IGPOTY competition, The New York Botanical Garden is offering an additional purse of $1000 as part of the lead-up to our 2013 summer exhibition exploring the healthful benefits of the plant kingdom. Winning photos in the Wellness category will not only take home some of that cash, but also the opportunity to see their photographs hung in the Ross Gallery as a part of the long-running exhibition. Think of it as your stepping stone toward IGPOTY glory.
As we get down to brass tacks in the Caribbean Garden photography contest, our partners across the pond are already stumping for their next round of entries. And with the caliber of winning participants recently unveiled, those looking to become the next International Garden Photographer of the Year find themselves up against stiff and startlingly talented competition.
2011’s IGPOTY proceedings pulled skillful nature photographers out of the woodwork. Be it through painstaking preparation or the luck of being in the right place at just the right moment, many of the images captured by the multinational list of participants are almost unconscionable in their beauty. Gritty, ethereal, preternaturally real–the winning selections call up these descriptors among others. It’s a smorgasbord of aesthetic eye candy reaching toward the peak of the artform.
Mandy Disher - "The Beacon," First Place in Plant Portraits Year 3
Every day at The New York Botanical Garden offers countless opportunities to snap the perfect shot. A red-tailed hawk making pre-flight checks, a maple seed as it whirligigs from an overhead branch–each event happens almost casually, yet the challenge of capturing nature in just the right light, at the right time, is something our visiting photographers crave.
But there’s motivation beyond the thrill of capturing the perfect picture, thanks in large part to the nearly $8,000 in grand prize funds handed out through the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition. For the last five years, the contest has provided amateurs and professionals alike with an outlet for their photographs, and in turn earned the winners not only a check, but global recognition for their work. And with an entry fee of only £10 (around $16), there’s no reason to sit this year’s competition out.
Butterflies take a lot of patience and you have to get through a lot of shots before the right one appears in the viewfinder. The winning shot is a great example of the way photography is really about light and about ‘chasing the light’. To achieve the vision of light filtered through a butterfly’s wing is a testament not only to patience but also to Heather Lang’s skill.
Butterfly by Heather Lang
The second placed shot by Patricia Gonzalez is actually my favourite–but then I am always attracted by humour and fun in images. This is a beautifully seen composition with the two photographers working visually in opposite directions. The foreshortening of the long lens makes them look as if they are close together, blissfully unaware of each other. This is a picture about passion and enjoyment–exactly what the category ‘Breathing Spaces’ in International Garden Photographer of the Year is all about. Patricia must have waited carefully for the exact moment when both photographers were looking through the viewfinder to create that sense of symmetry–very clever.
In the Rose Garden by Patricia Gonzalez
Can you get more photogenic than a lotus flower? The soft light falling on this bloom is exquisite. I think I might have wanted to shift position a bit to simplify the composition to exclude the foliage and maybe tell us a bit more about its context in NYBG, but there is a lot of atmosphere in this shot.
Lotus by Elizabeth Mueller
Thank you Philip! July isn’t even half over yet, plenty of time left to enter this month’s contest. The theme is “American Beauty.” Simply join the NYBG Group Pool on Flickr, and then tag your photo with nybgigpoty2. That’s it! At the end of the month we’ll convene a panel of photography experts and report back with the winners. Good luck, and keep snapping!
