Well, as all the other judges have said in recent months, it is nearly impossible to pick the winners of the Picture This Photo Contest and this month’s selection for “Abundant Harvest” was just as tough. Even though we have expanded the number of winners, now adding two runners up to the silver, there are not enough prizes for the outstanding photos that all of you submitted .
First, thank you to all our fellow bloggers who took the time to provide us links and join in the fun. Collectively, you created a wonderful gallery of photos which, in total, explored all sorts of ways to define abundant harvest. It was particularly fun to read about your choices, share in your enthusiasm as you went off to take new photos, and sympathize with you as you agonized over which photos to submit.
There were many fine entries, mouthwatering harvests, evocative fields, and even humor. We loved the tale behind the bathtub of chard sent in by our friend healingmagichands. We got flower photos, seeds, and recipes and invite you to browse through all the links as seen in the comments to the original post.
Of particular merit: let’s start with the post from Gardenista TexasDeb who argued with the judge about the origins of the garden cornucopia photograph and shared her own wonderfully composed and strongly lit photograph.
It is hard to believe that this beautiful still life did NOT win a prize. And no, it is not because this interpretation of a cornucopia is not like mine.
Addendum (10/28): Since Rothschild Orchid doesn’t live in the U.S., we can’t ship the bulbs to her. Therefore, Saxon has chosen another runner up who will receive the prize. It is TexasDeb for her moody still life. But Rothschild Orchid, of course, still has bragging rights for her fantastic photo.
As I was watching the submissions come in, I was sure that the fruit laden crab apple tree from ESP (East Side Patch) would end up among the winners. I loved the lively composition using the full frame and felt the sense of bounty in the photograph as conveyed by all the fruit receding into the distance.
Yet, once all the entries were in this was bumped by photos that gave a bit more emphasis on the harvest and told more of a story.
In the blog posting sent in by macgardens we are told a bit of the story of Lake Market in Calcutta and the photo is stronger for it.
There is obvious abundance in this well composed photograph and the spot of orange gives it just enough extra color. Knowing the story about the day of the harvest makes the photograph all the more compelling. So, to macgardens we award our first runner up prize.
The next runner up, from Rothschild Orchid, uses a completely different approach with simplicity and bold colors to create a photograph I could imagine on a magazine cover.
The hint of the farm cart at the bottom of the frame reinforces the sense of harvest while using three simple forms (sky, pumpkins, cart) in strong, pleasing balance. Well done !
Our next prize, the Silver Award Winner, is for a pomegranate photo. Whether or not Jenny over at Rock Rose realizes it or not, the mythical association of pomegranates with bounty and fertility plays on the judge’s sense of symbolism.
![picture_this_silver[1]](https://gardeninggonewild.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/picture_this_silver11.gif "picture_this_silver[1]")
Symbolism aside, how can one not get a decadent sense of abundance seeing this ripe fruit tumbling out of a basket, seeds spilling out? A fine composition using the entire frame for the eye to move from fruit to seed, back to front.
The Gold Meda Winner this month, the first prize, goes to Charlotte at Life in a Day with a most colorful photo full of excitement and spontaneity.
![picture_this_gold[1]](https://gardeninggonewild.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/picture_this_gold11.gif "picture_this_gold[1]")
I nearly overlooked this photo when it first came in because of the bright overexposed highlights and the plastic basket in the middle. But I set all the photos side by side in my judging and I kept going back to it. The basket is not quite in the middle and in fact helps create a composition of 5 shapes, of similar colors. All the produce is spilling out on all sides and I got the sense that there is energy and a story going on beyond the photo. I was intrigued like none of the other photos and give it this month’s first prize.
Thanks again for all of you who shared your photos and congratulations to the winners.
A note from Fran:
![GGW-Bulbs[1].jpg-High Country Gardens-resized](https://gardeninggonewild.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/GGW-Bulbs1.jpg-High-Country-Gardens-resized.jpg "GGW-Bulbs[1].jpg-High Country Gardens-resized")
The first place Gold Medal Winner, Charlotte, will receive a unique collection of bulbs from High Country Gardens, along with the privilege of placing the Gold Medal Winner badge on the front of her blog, along with Jenny, The Silver Medal Winner, who can do the same with the Silver Medal Winner Badge.
The Silver Medal Winner, Jenny, and two runner ups, macgardens and Rothschild Orchid, will receive a collection of a variety of white bulbs from the International Flower Bulb Centre.
For more information on the magnificent bulbs being given as rewards, click on: Picture This Photo Contest
A big thank you goes to David Salman at High Country Gardens who each month offers a tantalizing prize for our Gold Medal Winner. And a special thank you this month to the International Flower Bulb Centre (via our friend Sally Ferguson) who has graciously offered three more rewards. And finally, a shout out to our own Saxon Holt, a GGW Regular Contributor, for a difficult job well done!
To the winners and runners up, please send a note to me with your contact information at: [email protected]. We want to make sure the bulbs are in your hands ASAP so that you can get them into the ground before a major frost.
For anyone who is interested in looking at the magnificent gallery of photo entries for past Picture This Photo Contests, here are the links:
Native Plants – April
Containers – May
Roses – June
Flowering Trees – July
Down On Your Knees – August
Ornamental Grasses – September
Abundant Harvest – October
Our next Picture This Photo Contest subject will be published on November 5th. So get ready! And for those of you who have sat on the sidelines up until now, get your cameras out, throw your hat into the ring and join us for what should prove to be another rocking time at GGW.
Latest posts by Saxon Holt (see all)
- The Green New Deal - November 19, 2018
- Leaning Pine Arboretum - January 31, 2018
- Landscape Panoramas 2017 - January 12, 2018
