Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Tropical Paradise
Posted in Photography on February 4 2014, by Matt Newman
The tallies are in for week two of the Tropical Paradise Photo Contest! With so many great photographs in the submission queue this time around, it was like pulling teeth trying to find a consensus on the winners, but we rallied and came to some good conclusions.
We’re now into week three of the contest as far as submission windows go, and the number of people contributing is still climbing—which we love. Frankly, the more the merrier. The judges and I thrive on a good challenge. But while we’re on the topic, I must remind all newcomers to our contest that the only way to ensure we see your entries is to tag each photo with “#tropicalparadise” when you upload it to our Flickr group. No variations on that, please! Even if we do happen to see a photo with “Tropical Paradise” in the title, we can’t be sure that you intended to submit it officially, and you know what they say about assumptions.
Otherwise, everything has been going swimmingly (aside from our weekly winner announcements, which are a day late as per usual). Keep the photos coming! And without further ado, here are your winners for week two of TPPC 2014.
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Posted in Programs and Events on January 31 2014, by Matt Newman
Cue week three of our Tropical Paradise exhibition, and the third round in our ongoing, six-week photography contest! Already we’ve seen dozens of entries from local and visiting photographers hoping to take home the brass ring—a certificate good for one Adult Education photography course of the winner’s choosing. And because we have two categories in which to enter, Macro and Sense-of-Place, that’s two opportunities to win a certificate. Easy! Just check out our photo contest rules page to get a handle on submission guidelines and schedules.
We’ll have the winners of the second round up on Plant Talk as of Monday or Tuesday, but in the meantime you can check out the competition via the announced champions of the first week.
There are still four whole weeks of competition left as of this Saturday, February 1, but if you’re not much of a camera fiend there’s still plenty of interest to be found in our daily events and activities in the Conservatory. You’ll find our permanent collection of tropical rarities and stunning blooms augmented by Tropical Interactive Encounters, hands-on demos that open up the rejuvenating properties of plants like nutmeg and annatto with samples to boot. And for kids, Tropical Wintertime Wonders in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden offer a chance to chase away the winter gloom in the cozy Discovery Center. There they’ll pot up their own specimen plants to take home and use a field notebook to discover the beginnings of new plantlife waiting for spring’s arrival.
If the weather’s got you down, don’t suffer it! Just hop up to our Conservatory and make the instant transition to the tropics, only a step inside our classic glasshouse.
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Posted in Photography on January 30 2014, by Ann Rafalko
Who was here to weave such a subtle web?
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
If you love taking photographs of scenes like this, don’t forget to enter our Tropical Paradise Photography Contest!
Posted in Photography on January 28 2014, by Matt Newman
And off we go! Last Friday marked the close of the first week of competition for our Tropical Paradise photography contest, and our early submissions are already looking fantastic. (Though with the roller-coaster of icy weather we’ve been having lately, it’s no surprise our shutterbugs are happily holing up in the summer warmth of the Conservatory.) For those of you who haven’t already made it out to our glasshouse for some shooting, don’t worry—there’s still the better part of five weeks left (’til February 28) to take part.
Still, I wouldn’t wait too long. Submitting new photos during each week’s judging period can only better your chances to win our grand prize: a free Adult Education class of your choice. And because we have two categories of submission—macro and sense-of-place (close-up and wide angle, respectively)—you’re welcome to play to your photographic strengths. For anyone not sure about rules, schedules, or submission guidelines, check out our contest page.
But that’s enough of recaps. Let’s get down to the winners and runners-up for this first week of competition. We’ve got some familiar faces among the early birds this year, and they’re often the ones to beat.
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Posted in Photography on January 28 2014, by Ann Rafalko
A green tapestry, woven of ferns and Ericaceae.
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
If you love taking photographs of scenes like this, don’t forget to enter our Tropical Paradise Photography Contest!
Posted in Photography on January 27 2014, by Matt Newman
Our Tropical Paradise exhibition is in full swing under the glass of the Conservatory, offering up all the summer warmth and escapism you could need during this winter of frigid polar vortexes. But it’s more than just bright rain forest flowers and a place to ditch your gloves and galoshes. Believe it or not, this highlight of our permanent tropical collection is also a test of skill! Though not to worry—there’s minimal exercise involved beyond working your shutter finger.
This year’s photography contest is all-inclusive. By that, I mean you’re all welcome regardless of gear or skill level. Are you a novice with an iPhone in tow, hoping to get a few pics for your Twitter account? You’re in. Canon-toting DSLR superstar with a years-deep portfolio? Also more than welcome! (Though you’ll have to leave the tripods and monopods at home—sorry!) If you’re rocking an ancient Polaroid SX-70 with disposable flash bars, we want to see your photos. So don’t shy away. As long as you’ve got a Flickr account (and they’re incredibly easy to make), you’ve got a chance at winning our grand prize: a certificate for a free NYBG Adult Education class of your choice.
If you’re not sure what to expect, just lend Kevin Character your eyes and ears for a moment and he’ll set everything straight. He’s got a knack for this sort of thing.
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Posted in Photography on January 27 2014, by Ann Rafalko
Step inside this gallery and explore away. There are beautiful things hidden everywhere!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
If you love taking photographs of scenes like this, don’t forget to enter our Tropical Paradise Photography Contest!
Posted in Photography on January 26 2014, by Ann Rafalko
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
If you love taking photographs of scenes like this, don’t forget to enter our Tropical Paradise Photography Contest!
Posted in Photography on January 25 2014, by Ann Rafalko
There are a few stairs cases inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and they all lead somewhere interesting. Come find out where this one goes!
Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
In the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
If you love taking photographs of scenes like this, don’t forget to enter our Tropical Paradise Photography Contest!
Posted in Around the Garden on January 24 2014, by Matt Newman
It’s frosty outside, I’ll give you that, but the quintessential winter beauty covering much of the Garden right now makes the few extra layers of clothing so worth it. Pristine fields of snow are everywhere, dotted with the patterns of tiny squirrel and bird feet. The spots of color—berries, conifer needles, the remains of the leaves—are that much more high-contrast with so much white surrounding them. But you don’t have to track down color in the winter landscape if you’d rather have a warmer go of things. That’s what Tropical Paradise is for!
Our spotlight on the permanent collections of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory is crowned by one of my absolute favorite events of the year: the Tropical Paradise photography contest. It’s a chance for our visiting shutterbugs, expert and novice alike, to snap a few shots of beautiful plants and locations in our glasshouse. More importantly, there are prizes up for grabs. And all you need is a camera—DSLR, iPhone, whatever you’re comfortable with—and a Flickr account (they’re easy to make). You’ll find the full rules, schedule, and submission guidelines here. But don’t wait too long—while there are still five weeks to go in the contest, participation will start to pick up, and each of those weeks is a new chance toward winning!
Even if you’re not much for photography, there’s plenty to see and do around the Garden this weekend, both indoors and out. Just a reminder that this is the last weekend of All Aboard with Thomas & Friends, so register soon—those tickets won’t last long. In the meantime, check out our full schedule below!
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