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AIS Photo Contest: 2007 Contest report and winners and runners up in all categories
2007 AIS Photo Contest Report 2007
AIS Photo Contest Report Many photographers from 2006 were back again this year with additional entries in our contest, and it was nice to see lots of new exhibitors as well. We had about a 10% increase in the numbers of photos entered with close-ups remaining our largest category. Our participants have met the challenge of finding photos in categories other than just close ups, as the percentage of photos across the other categories is increasing. Last year we had two entries from France, this year we had three entries from France, and two entries from Germany. This year we had a couple more youth entries with excellent photo quality.
Photo: One of the winning entries in the 2007 AIS Photo Contest: “POW”, exhibited by Grace Farley from Lincoln, Nebraska. Category: Youth photographer (under 19) What kind of photos did I receive? In the garden and landscaping categories, I got photos of iris beds overlooking canyons, fields with farm implements, beardless growing naturally on edges of river banks, and closer shots of iris clumps against landscaped backgrounds. In the category about iris people and events, I received photos of people at shows, including youth; hybridizers discussing the fine elements of their work, quite a few of attendees at conventions, and several comical shots. I think it is important to catch our friends in more humorous shots, and very much hope you will be the next one with a humor shot for next year! I received more entries in the pet and wildlife category this year, with favorite kitties and poodles catching the photographer’s eyes. The difficulty about taking a good picture of pets and wildlife, is that often the wildlife or pet doesn’t hang around long enough for the photographer to get the ‘best’ angle and best light for the irises to show as well. Just keep trying! In the same category we included photos with art effects and macro segments of blooms, as our last years entry counts were low in all of these areas. I was very pleased to see many more of all of these type of photos this year, with some new photos that can only be considered “art”. There is a lot of opportunity for photographers who have software which can transform an iris photo by adding “art” characteristics, and I encourage you all to try some. Plans currently are to split this category apart because we had the volume of entries to do so, and it will be better to judge these kinds of photos separately. Regarding the actual “quality” of the photos and it’s importance in the judging process, there are some points I want to mention. Avoiding heavy shadows will improve your chances. Professional photographers will advise you to use flash in the gardens. This is true, as you can reduce the shadows on close ups and the improvement is noticeable. On a close up photo, try not to have edges of the falls or other parts of the bloom be cut off at the edges, unless your intent is to do a macro shot of bloom segments. When including several blooms in the photo, having a good focus on many of the blooms is important as it makes the photo much more attractive. Close-up photos looking down at a single bloom with a lot of brown dirt showing in the background is often not too attractive. If you’re taking digital photos, try your best to take them in a high resolution, e.g. close to 600dpi, as the higher photo quality will compete so much better with others who are developing from negatives. I so much enjoy viewing and admiring the
entries, as some pretty outstanding photos are quite The photos received were judged by three judges. Our first judge Lowell Baumunk III is from Littleton, Colorado, hybridizes in all classes of bearded irises, and was twice a Winner in our 2006 photo contest. Lowell is heavily involved in photography, but his work is by no means limited to irises. You can see some of his work at www.iriscolorado.com. Our second judge, Kathy Chilton, currently is RVP of Region 15, is an AIS judge, and resides in Tucson, Arizona. She is an avid photographer and was Editor of the Region 15 bulletin for several years. Our third judge, Betty Coyle is also an AIS judge, is past RVP of Region 14, served many offices in Region 14, and served as AIS Convention Chair for the 2004 AIS Convention in Fresno, Calif. Congratulations to all of our 2007 winners and I thank all of our contestants for sending me their best photos. I also want to thank our three judges for their time and effort to sort and evaluate several hundred photos in a short amount of time. 2007 AIS Photo Contest Photos of winners and runners up Category: Irises Used in a Landscaped Garden:
Winning Entry: “Morning Dew”, exhibited by Debbie Hughes, from Wellsville, Kansas
Runner Up entry: “Oklahoma State Capital”, exhibited by Robert Treadway, Carlisle, Arkansas Category: Irises in a Field or Home Garden:
Winning Entry: “Broke Down Beauty”, exhibited by Molly Lacey from Chatfield, Minnesota
Runner Up Entry: “i. pseudacorus”, exhibited by Patricia Randall from Rio Rancho, New Mexico Category: Events, Tours, a Person or People (at iris location), Shows:
Winning Entry: “Man in Will Rodgers Garden”, exhibited by Robert Treadway from Carlisle, Arkansas
Runner Up Entry: “Artist at Work”, exhibited by Stephen Blecher from Littleton, Colorado Category: Close Up of an Iris or Irises:
Winning Entry: “Wintry Sky”, exhibited by Carol Ann Moyer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Runner Up entry, exhibited by Janet Hill from Virginia Beach, Virginia Category: Photos with Art effects, Macro photos of Bloom Segments, photos of Pets or Wildlife in the irises:
Winning entry, exhibited by Pat Carlson from Bayfield, Colorado
Runner Up entry: “Through the Iris”, exhibited by Molly Lacey from Chatfield, Minnesota Category: Youth photographer (under 19):
Winning entry: “POW”, exhibited by Grace Farley from Lincoln, Nebraska
Runner Up entry: “Capitol View”, exhibited by Grace Farley from Lincoln, Nebraska | Home
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