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NYBG-IGPOTY June Winners: The IGPOTY Co-Founder’s Perspective

Posted in Photography on July 12 2011, by Ann Rafalko

We asked Philip Smith, professional photographer and co-founder and Managing Director of the International Garden Photographer of the Year contest for his thoughts on our first NYBG-IGPOTY monthly photo contest winners. Here’s what Philip had to say.

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
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
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
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!

IGPOTY June Contest: And the Winner Is …

Posted in Photography on July 7 2011, by Ann Rafalko

Butterfly by Heather Lang
Butterfly by Heather Lang

A huge congratulations to Heather Lang for winning our first monthly NYBG-IGPOTY photography contest. The panel of NYBG judges felt that Heather’s photo of a butterfly (on what looks to be an ornamental sage) was the tops in capturing the June theme of “Picturing Summer.” Heather will receive a NYBG swag bag, which includes two All-Garden Passes, a $25 credit towards the Adult Education class of her choice, a catalog for the Library exhibition Historical Views: Tourists at the Alhambra, and the catalog from Hirschfeld’s Broadway Scrapbook. We’re also working on getting copies of the photography book, Better Plant and Garden Photography, written by IGPOTY founder Philip Smith, over from the U.K. as well. Congratulations Heather! Please send us an email with your contact information through this form (select website from the pull-down menu).

Coming in a close second is this photograph by Patricia Gonzalez which, humoursly (and literally) captures the theme with a pair of shutterbugs snapping away in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden.

 

In the Rose Garden by Patricia Gonzalez
In the Rose Garden by Patricia Gonzalez

In third place is this iconic NYBG image of a lotus taken in the Conservatory courtyard pool by Elizabeth Mueller.

Lotus by Elizabeth Mueller
Lotus by Elizabeth Mueller

We had 35 photographs entered into this first contest, and the quality was really high. It was difficult settling upon a winner, so congratulations to Heather, Patricia, and Elizabeth!

For the July contest we have picked the theme “American Beauty.” Stumped? Don’t be! Be creative! Pictures needn’t be patriotic, or all red, white, and blue. Perhaps you snapped a shot of Benjamin Franklin’s choice to be our national bird–the turkey–walking around the grounds, or maybe you took a plant portrait of a rose with an all-American name. If you’re afraid we might miss the point of your photo, please include an explanation in the description area. For the July contest, please use the tag nybgigpoty2.

And let’s simplify matters a bit this month, too. Why doesn’t everyone just limit themselves to five photos. Don’t worry about entering one per week. Feel free to plop them all into the group, en masse. And as always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Congrats again to the winners!