Exhibition - The International Garden Photographer of the Year, Kew 25.9.10

This exhibition was unusual in that it was outdoors at Kew, the images being especially printed and protected in plastic. There are several categories: plant protraits, Edible plants, Trees, Portfolios, Wildlife in the Garden, and Young IGPOTY.

In the plant portrait section I particularly liked Brian Haslam's Magnolia which received the 2nd prize. It has beautiful detail in the centre of the flower and the pink nicely contrasts with the white.

Stephen Studd's Agave Spines from the Jardin Majorelle also attracted me. The edge of the leaf and the spines are beautifully backlit and catch the light. It also reminded me of my visit there last year.

In the edible section I enjoyed David Hennessey's Autumn Harvest which was beautifull lit and had a real painterly feel. Another favourite was the third place Melon Modigliani by Carlo Silva. It had fabulous colour and texture and super contrasting colours.

In the trees section I liked Olegas Kurasova's Leaf Fall in a Forest Stream. Again it had beautiful soft lighting ith wonderful autumn colours. A slow shutter speed produced movement blur in the water. Jonathon Little's Autumn showed wonderful soft lighting with excellent reflections in the still water.

Only one entry in the portfolio section inspired me and that was Fruiting Bodies a portfolio of fungal fruiting bodies. These were fascinating and had been produced using a Umax PowerlockIII scanner.

In the section on people I liked the entry that came first: Victor Korchenko's Tai Chi. I was inspired by the fact that Like Cartier Bresson he had taken the image of a man practising Tai Chi in Beihai Park, Beijing whilst looking down on him. In the same vein was Johnny Jetstream's image Lawnmower Man looking down from a higher rooftop on a man mowing a rooftop garden.

Wild life. Here I enjoyed Magdalena Wasiczek's image when the day ends of beautifulk golden backlighting of a butterfly on a dead flower head. Rachael Piper's Frog Close Up has superb detail.

In the Young IGPOTY my favourite is Sam Cairn's Crested Tit which won him third place. It is slightly backlit to add interest and has a fabulous out of focus background. He has also carefully chosen the perch for the bird, a beautiful lichen covered twig, which he has shown in fabulous detail.