Nottinghamshire garden photographic competition: winners announced

The winners in the Nottinghamshire National Garden Scheme 2021 Photographic Competition have been announced. Aimed at amateur photographers, the winners in two categories – garden owner and garden visitor – were selected by professional garden photographers Carole Drake and Julie Skelton.

The winners are:

Garden owner photographs:

First Place:
Take a Moment by Pam Barnsdale – main image above (Bolham Manor)
The judges said: “We’re immersed in plants and love the way she’s filled the composition with plants and it feels as if we’re standing in the border rather than looking at it from a distance, plus the variation of focus, the heleniums being in focus, the out of focus Verbena bonariensis in the foreground which makes us feel it’s very close to us. Great stuff. Also the soft light is perfect for the image, giving edge to edge detail, which is where so many amateurs go wrong, getting the camera out when it’s brilliantly sunny.”

Second Place:
A View across the Garden by Lady Svava Davies (The Coach House)
The judges said: “This is a really dynamic image, the way the composition zigzags across its surface and takes us into the space of the garden. We get a sense she has cropped it too, which emphasises the movement and shows her looking carefully at how the parts balance. Again nice soft light which enhances the textures and detail of the planting.”

Third Place:
Thyme House by Kim Bowler (Thyme House)
The judges liked the way the photographer seems to have got down near the water level to make us feel close to the water. The sky is quite a good foil for the rest of the image too.

Garden visitor photographs:

First Place:
Bananarama by Caroline Young (Meadow Farm Garden)
The judges liked the way the photographer gets right up close and uses the banana and the birdbath as counterweights within the composition, plus the limited colour palette, it draws out a connection between the purple tinged banana and the purplish browns in the birdbath. The composition’s really tight and rather flat and it gives a different view of a garden that’s about colour, texture and surface; it’s rather abstract.

Second Place:
Roses in the Garden by Phil Walton (Lyndhurst)
The judges liked the nice soft light.

Third Place:
Windy and Wet by Ann Robbins (2 Holmefield Croft)
The judges liked the way you were led into the picture and the light is bright but not overpowering, a few paces forward or a clever crop would have helped the composition.