Photographic Competition

What is the Photographic Competition?

Many of our members are great photographers, who come back from trips to the mountains with wonderful images. That has been more difficult for UK-based members in the last couple of years, but even in the UK there are amazing vistas of wildflowers, and of public and personal gardens, which have an ‘alpine’ flavour.

Further, the lack of trips gives you an opportunity to revisit your back catalogue, and search for stunning images which have been passed over and forgotten.

This competition is for digital photographs featuring alpine plants or landscapes, and is open to all members. Every year, we receive hundreds of entries. The winning images will be featured on the website and in the AGS Journal … and of course, there are cash prizes.

Class Seven: Ursula Junker - View looking east with the mountains Hvalfell and Botnsúlur, Iceland (March 2018)

Photographic Competition Classes

This year, the competition has 9 different classes. Please note that there are two new classes:

Class 5 for an ‘Alpine Plant in a Pot’
Class 9 for ‘The Wonder of Wildflowers’.

Each member can enter up to 3 photos in each class – up to 27 photos in all if you can find images suitable for every class.

1. Alpine Plant in Natural Habitat

For this class, we are hoping to see wild alpine plants, set against the backdrop of their natural habitat. The photo you enter should feature both the plant(s) and the situation in which they are growing; both will be given weight by the judges.

Class One (Overall Competition Winner): Harry Jans - Puya raimondii. Carretera Pastoruri Pass to Pastoruri at 4,245m, Peru (April 2018)

2. Portrait of Alpine Plant in Natural Habitat

Again we are looking for photos of alpine plants growing in the wild, but here we want photographs which feature the entire plant as the main subject. Surrounding landscape is unnecessary and may distract attention from the main subject.

Class 2 (Third Place) 2019: Roy Bowden - Pulsatilla halleri. Mount Falakron, Macedonia, Greece: April 2019.

3. Alpine Plant Close-up

This category is for fabulous close-ups, which show just a part of an alpine plant in magnificent detail. The picture can be taken anywhere – in the wild or in cultivation.

You do not have to photograph a flower – in the past winning images have focused on details of leaves and seed heads.

Class-3_First_Saxifraga-punctulata_Class3-2_Harry-Jans

4. Alpine Plant in a Garden

This class is for photographs of alpines that are being grown in a garden setting.

This may be in your own garden or in one you have visited! But if it is not your own garden, please make sure you have permission to enter the photo in a competition.

Class 4 (Second Place) 2019: Celia Sawyer - Fritillaria meleagris.

5. Alpine Plant in a Pot

Many of our members grow their alpines not in the open garden but in pots. Here we would like to see photos of those plants. This subject gives you the opportunity to apply a great deal more photographic control than plants in the wild: you can control where you take the photo (indoors or outdoors), when you take the photo (when the plant is in perfect condition), and time of day, which gives control over lighting and weather. You can use artificial light sources and backgrounds if you wish.

Gentiana acaulis 'Frohnleiten' exhibited by John Bunn at the AGS Midland Show 2017. Photo by Jon Evans.

6. Alpine Fauna in the Wild

Alpine habitats also have their very own special range of animals, from insects to birds and larger mammals. This competition class is to celebrate them.

Your alpine animal can be photographed in the landscape or in association with plants – it is completely up to you!

Class 6 (First Place) 2019: Tony Goode - Blue butterfly (Plebejus sp.). Meadows at Antagnes, Alpes Vaudoises, Switzerland: June 2019.

7. Alpine Landscape

Here we are looking for photos that capture the scenic beauty of alpine landscapes. Your photo need not show specific alpine plants – the focus should be on the natural features of the landscape.

Photos can range from the small and intimate right up to grand panoramas.

Class 7 (Third Place) 2019: Mark Matthews - Grey Lake, south of Kangding, Sichuan, China: June 2019.

8. Quirky Image Featuring Alpine Plants

Got a photo that’ll make us laugh? Do a double-take? Scratch our heads? This class is for you! Any weird and wonderful photo featuring alpine plants goes.

Digital manipulation is allowed in this class. In fact anything goes – let your imagination run riot!

Class 8 (First Place) 2019: Alex O'Sullivan - Azorella monantha and Tom Pickering in Patagonia: December 2018.

9. The Wonder of Wildflowers

This class is intended to celebrate the visual spectacle and impact that alpine plants can create. We want to see spectacular panoramas of flowers, whether a carpet of a single species or a tapestry of different plants, colours and shapes.

Class 2 2020: Frank Hoyle - Hymenoxis grandiflora at Independence Pass, Colorado July 2016.

Judging the Photographic Competition

Judges are selected for artistic and photographic expertise, and include both AGS members and non-members. They will review entries and award a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each class, and (optionally) some Highly Commended mentions to outstanding images. They will also choose an overall winner for the entire competition.

The photos are judged purely on photographic merit. This sets the Photographic Competition apart from our Online Flower Show in which it’s the plant in the photo that’s being judged.

This means that a stunning photo of a familiar plant e.g. a Sempervivum will do better than a poor photo of some high alpine rarity like a rosulate Viola from the Andes.

Class 6 (Second Place) 2019: Niels Finnerup - Sterna paradisaea (Arctic Tern). Island of Gotland, Sweden: June 2018.

Choosing your Entries

Think hard about whether each image fits the definition of the class you want to enter it in, rather than selecting your best pictures and then trying to shoehorn them into classes where they don’t fit. Every year there are some great pictures which are overlooked because they don’t fit the criteria for the class. If in doubt, you can ask the Competition Secretary at photographic.competition@alpinegardensociety.org .

The judges’ selection is always based upon the class requirements. But don’t forget composition, and all the technical aspects. The classes might be defined by subject, but at the end of the day this is a photographic competition, and the judges are looking for the best pictures.