Customer Reviews

International Garden Photographer of the Year: Images of a Green Planet (International Garden Photographer of the Year Book)

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The latest edition for 2011 goes from strength to strength, in sync with the increased popularity of the competition itself. The book is full of hundreds of lovely photographs from the competition sorted into sections on wildflowers, garden view, plants, people, wildlife and trees. There is a separate section for the Young Photographers of the Year, and the quality of the work is astonishing. Throughout the photographers tell the background story to the taking of their pictures, combined with technical details of the equipment and processing.

An absolutely stunning book!
Perfect for anyone who loves plants, flowers, gardens, wildlife and trees. A brilliant book for garden photographers too!
The photographs are incredible - a truly unique collection of images from around the world. This book is also informative as well as inspirational. Each photographer's fascinating story behind each photograph is featured alongside each image and the technical camera details are included too.
I would strongly recommend this book - either as a treat for yourself or as a wonderful present for a friend!

Not quite sure why the format was changed this year, the previous 3 volumes were published in matching hardcovers, I would have preferred the format to remain that way. The collection of images presented in this volume is of high standard, but the quality of the paper used (in my copy anyway)is not as good as previously.Shame.

This soft-backed book comprises the collection of short-listed entries for the 2011 International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition, the fourth year that this competition has been held.
Thousands of entries are received from around the world each year, and once the winners are announced, the first of several exhibitions is held in May at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and this printed collection is published. An awards ceremony is also held at Kew, to coincide with the launch of the exhibition and this book.
Just like the competition, the book is split into categories; Plant Portraits, Garden Views, Wildlife in the Garden, People in the Garden, Wildflowers and Trees, together with a number of "special" awards such as Young Garden Photographer of the Year. Entries for the competition are either single images or portfolios of six images, and the book includes shortlisted pictures as well as all the category finalists and winners.
The book has an Introduction by Prof. Stephen D Hopper of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a Foreward by the well-known Naturalist, Photographer and Broadcaster, Chris Packham.
Logically, the first category in the book is Wildflowers, from which the overall winner, Colin Roberts was chosen, and the first full page image you see is Colin's superb winning image of Sea Thrift, captured at Widemouth Bay, North Devon.
Images are mostly reproduced full-page (a pet hate of mine is images used across the fold), and there are details of the equipment used and a short piece from the photographer to give an insight into why and how they made the image.
This is a good-sized book designed and reproduced beautifully, and should be on the wish-list of any aspiring photographer with a leaning towards any of the topics in the list of categories.
Potential buyers expecting endless, cover to cover pictures of just "International Gardens" should, however, be aware of the scope and flexibility given by the organisers of the competition regarding eligibility of images. Fortunately these comprehensive guidelines are listed in full on the inner cover of the book, so there can be no reason for disappointment. For example, Wildflowers "can be in gardens or in the true wild" and Trees can "reveal the treasures of our wild forests as well as the beauty of a solitary tree" (useful if you aspire to entering the competition this year but all you have is a window-box!).
Highly recommended and inspirational.

I was rather disappointed this year as I usually enjoy getting this book as I enjoy garden and floral photography. I thought that a lot of the entries were more landscape photography than garden photography & I may not purchase again in future.