Winners of the 2003 Photo Contest!

I also would like to have a monthly contest if that isn't too much work to get organized for you Dave. Donna

Wow...oh my gosh!!! Thank you to all who voted for me!!! And many congratulations to all the winners. I'm still in shock :) Hope everyone here has a wonder, blessed holiday season!!!

Congratulations to all ~ it sure does help the winter doldrums.

Who decides what photos to enter? I new nothing until I saw the link for voting.

Wow, we have very talented people here; gardening isn't their only forte.

Mark,
in the sidebar to the right under "Extras"

Dave started a thread way back in the summer...probably in the Dave's Garden Forum. Jo

Here was the initial thread where the contest was announced: http://davesgarden.com/t/393562/

I'm not ignoring the ideas of a monthly contest, by the way, but I'm just not yet sure if it's an idea I want to implement or not. I admit my first concern is diluting the "neat factor" of the contests. Monthly might make it so that it's not really anything special anymore, where an annual contest is a looked-forward-to kind of thing.

A monthly contest would also have to be -completely- automated, otherwise I'd forget to make the new contest each month!

I have to give it a bit more thought.

Dave

Maybe a quarterly contest? Seasonal, even?

I agree with Dave that a monthly contest might get old fast. Yearly keeps it special, but also makes it huge. What about a quarterly contest, with the fourth quarter being the yearly? Then it would only be three contests to enter per year ... say, spring, summer, fall/winter. Then the yearly from all the winners.

Just a thought ...

Cheri'
there i go thinking again ....

Ouarterly's good.......like our seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.....lot's of beautiful and unique possibilties in different regions!!!

"eyes"

Quarterly definitely does seem quite a bit more reasonable. Let me give it some more thought!

dave

Isn't he wonderful?? Jo

Perhaps quarterly, with just a few appropriate categories for each season? (for example, houseplants, bonsai and tropicals in winter, veggies and flowers in fall, landscaping, water gardens and containers in summer, bulbs in spring, etc...)

That way, each category is still only done on an annual basis, but each quarter there are 3-4 categories to submit entries and vote on.

May I add a penny for your thoughts also?

There were some questions asked by members about where to put pictures that didn't seem to fit in the given categories.

Could we suggest some additional categories/divisions to make it easier to know where to submit photos? Like Cacti&Succulents or General Landscape images like mountains,lakes,beaches,waterfalls (as opposed to gardening landscaping that members have developed and designed themselves through their own sweat & tears).

Others that come to mind would be "People(Gardeners)" and "Travel/Vacation", not meaning to stray too far from the Gardening focus, but to give folks an opportunity to show off their skills in a variety of ways.

Quarterly sounds great!

I can see where it is hard to compete with Yellowstone National Park! LOL

I would think it would be more fair to have pictures of what members actually grow themselves and their yards kept separate from specimen plants from professionally landscaped areas, professional gardens, or national parks.

I guess it is important to define what type of picture contest it is. Is it a picture contest where the best photo wins regardless if it was taken on your vacation or in your backyard? Or the best picture of something you grew yourself or your own yard. If Dave wants both, does he want them to compete against each other directly?

I agree with Happenstance and Kell. Is it to be purely a photo contest or a contest of photos taken in our own gardens? I think its important to specify that in the next contest... Happy Gardening :)

I wholehearted agree with that, their's amatuers and professionals, and one not to be confused or held in comparison to the other.

"eyes"

I agree with Happenstance that there could be more categories or sub-categories. That would make fewer images in each category for people to go through before voting.

I don't know if I'd propose dividing between amateur and professional photographers. I've seen some absolutely fantastic shots by amateurs as well as their professional counterparts. In fact, a recently-published book allowed submissions from amateurs and professionals, and the judges weren't allowed to know which was which: http://www.alibris.com/books/america_24-7.cfm and many amateur shots were chosen over professional work. (It's kind of a neat book, which is why I included the link.)

I can definitely see the logic in segregating "own gardens" from professionally-landscaped parks and gardens. (Perhaps a category for "scenic landscapes" as opposed to landscap(ing) shots?

The only thing I'd have to throw in there, is I agree with the Professional versus garden variety landscaping... but, I'd also have to throw into the ring only un-enhanced images... There were a couple of photos that were beautiful, but they were photoshopped, or whatever, and I felt like those should have been in a category by themselves.

Congratulations to the winners and to all who entered these beautiful pictures.

I just enjoyed it the way it was. Few rules makes for a wide variety which is what I enjoyed the most. Some photos were....well....simply breathtaking. Touched up or not, amateur or pro, I like it the way it is.

Hi everyone...thanks for voting for me! Sorry this is so late in expressing my thanks...I just first checked this site to see the winners. All the photo's were great...congrats to all the winners.