SGD Photo competition

Each year the Society of Garden Designers hosts a series of competitions for students to show off their work. This seems to be aimed at final year students in degree courses given time scales but some of the OCGD year of 2010 will be entering examples of their work this year.

The Photographic section is due today, 30th June, and I sent of the required CD (well DVD in fact) yesterday with almost all the competition information filled out!

The night before we had an exceptional downpour of rain followed by weak early morning sun. Perfect for flower shots. So in my PJ's I pottered in the garden at home currently burgeoning with floral offerings and shot a fabulous Philadelphus which has lurched to my side of the fence from next door. They have hacked it into submission on their side, on mine it flops and flows with abundant white blooms.

I often shoot in the garden in the early morning, camera and sometimes tripod in hand. I sit on a chair waiting for the sun to pas the big Bay Tree and filter over the roof tops for just the right amount of light on a subject. A south east facing garden turns out to be delightful it terms of good morning light!

Night Lighting

An interesting afternoon lecture on lighting with John Marriott of Lighting for Landscapes including the ins and out of armour cabling (!) followed by a demonstration in situ at the beautiful Greystone garden of Duncan and Carol Heather.

Features lit up in the pitch black - a rural property took on an eerie and mystical glow when lit by a variety of lamps including LED (Light Emitting Diode)and Metal halide examples.

The Hunza 'Euro' range being my favorite especially tiny spot in a coppery bronze, defining elegant details of individual plants or textures.

From Collages