International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) is one of the most prestigious photography competitions. It is run in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. The main exhibition is held annually at Kew, with a rolling programme of touring exhibitions in the UK and all over the world.
This is (along with TPOTY) my favourite competition. The main reason is the creativity – there are so many original shots here that I always admire the winning photos.
I entered the 14th competition and won the Breathing Spaces category. I also got two other images listed in the Wildflower Landscapes category. Here are my images that qualified.
IGPOTY Breathing Spaces Winner
This is a winter view of the Veliki Prštavac waterfall at Plitvice Lakes National Park. I took this photo from an elevated viewpoint, on a rocky cliff overlooking the upper lakes. Fresh snow barely covered the trees and it melted as soon as sun came out.
Winners gallery: https://igpoty.com/competitions/breathing-spaces-14-results/
IGPOTY Wildflower Landscapes
Late summer morning in Dolomites. I took this photo on my photography workshop to rifugios in the Italian Alps. We were photographing sunrise at Seceda, one of the classic photo spots. On our way back for breakfast I noticed this amazing field of wild orchids and cotton flowers.
My third photo in this competition is from the Northeast Slovenia, the Karavanke Alps. This is a popular place in spring when wild daffodils are blooming. This exact location is less known and it looks like step back in time. White daffodils are surrounding a shepherd’s hut and a wooden hayrack. I was a bit disappointed not to see the Julian Alps in the background at the time. At the end, the image turned out really well. The Alps would distract the viewer away from the main subject.
Winners gallery: https://igpoty.com/competitions/wildflower-landscapes-14-results/
Conclusion
It is a great honour to be among the best photographers in this competition. It gives more more motivation to do my best in photography. Hopefully it will help with recognition too – this will help with promoting my photography business. Anyways, exciting news and it lightens up these dull snowless winter days! 🙂
