Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 photo contest!

The ballots have been cast and all votes have been counted and the winners are now revealed. You can now view all the photos along with who submitted each one, as well as see the winners and runners up, by going to this page:

http://davesgarden.com/contest/2008/

As always, there were some amazing photos this year and I know we all get a huge amount of pleasure out of viewing all these photos. I'd like to thank everyone who submitted entries into this year's contest. I'm already looking forward to the 2009 contest!

Those of you who won first place, please email me a high-resolution copy of your winning photo to dave@davesgarden.com so I can get them ready for the calendar that we're making.

I'll also be setting up an area where all the members can go vote on which photo should go with which month of the calendar. I'll make the announcement when that system is ready.

Here are the first place winners:

Domestic pets and Animals
Gardnerkett: "Will you always be my best friend?"

Insects
Elphaba: "What did one dragonfly say to the other one?"

Wildlife, including birds
UncleGreenthumb: "Photo taken summer of 2008 in backyard under one of the apple trees where I set out some of my tropical hibiscus for the warmer months.. Pine forest makes for a nice dark background from the morning sun.. "

Bulbs, corms and rhizomes
bebop2: "Firepot dahlia"

Annuals
DebinSC: "Osteospermum "Lemon Symphony", brightens a rainy day."

Perennials
SongsofJoy: "astilbe"

Roses
Calif_Sue: "Cherry Parfait"

Fruit & vegetables
bebop2: "Swiss chard 'Bright Lights'"

Scenic, seasonal & Sunsets
SongsofJoy: "'Sleepy Hollow' - Near Woodstock, Vermont"

Trees & shrubs
roybird: "Aspen trees in the Sangre de Cristos above Santa Fe, New Mexico this fall. It was an unusually cloudy, overcast day."

Containers
KatG: "Family Photo - 'Smile and say Cheeeeeese!'"

Garden landscapes
boojum: "June morning in the garden."

Tropicals & house plants
Dutchlady1: "Plumeria 'Tahitian Sunset'"

Miscellaneous
tropicalaria: "Lightening Whorl"

Congratulations to all the photographers! Thanks Dave for a really great contest!

This was the first time in all my years of voting that I got 50% of the 1st place winners - this was such fun. Again, thanks everyone.

WOW! Congratulations to all who won....and all who entered....Jo

Congrats to all the winners! All very well deserved!

Congrats to all!!!

Well I forgot to add my captions and didn't see an option for adding after wards. My 1st place rose was Cherry Parfait and 2nd place is Nancy Regan. Can that be added in?

Wow, I just may be buying a calendar! It's the first year I think all the photos are perfect!!!!!!!!! Although that "family photo" one was creepy lol ;)

Sue, I updated the caption. :)

Beautiful photos, stiff competition!! Congratulations to everyone!!!

Thanks Dave, although I'm surprised that I (and you) didn't catch my misspelling! That should be Reagan. Need more coffee!
^_^

CONGRATULATIONS !!!Everyone!!!
Superb Photos. This will be one Fantastic looking Calendar

Congratulations, everyone!!!

Bravo! Bravo!!

How can our contest just keep getting better and better?! Amazing photography, one and all!

Thank you so much, to all who participated and for all the hard work of everyone involved.

Wonderful.

Sasha

GOBSMACKED here - THANKS!!!!! That so totally made my day :-))))

Well, howdy doody! I know nothing about photography, but I did pretty good with my choices! Congrats to all!

Dave--hope I'm not overstepping my bounds, but would it be possible to contact a particular photographer for a photo that wasn't chosen in the winners and runnersup? Just curious (I really LOVED the little squirrel peering down from the tree branch)

Wow! I am totally in shock. Thank-You! It means so much to have the encouragement.

CONGRATS to all the entrants!!!! It's going to be a totally fabby calendar!!!!

Wow! Beautiful photos and congratulations everyone! :-)

Wow! I am shocked that I actually got a second place in the Insects. lol Yay! I never thought any of mine would place at all.

Concrats to the winners. All photos have been amazing and it was really hard to chose just 3 of each.

Beautiful photos! You guys are so talented! I can't wait to get the calendar.

Congrats to all very nice!!! BEV

Kudos to all who entered, and to the winners. It was difficult to narrow down the selections, but the winning photos are certainly worthy of the recognition they are receiving!

Can't wait to order my '09 calendar!!!!

Congratulations to the winners and all contestants... some pictures, hard to choose! But it was such fun!
Thanks Dave for an excelent work!
Adina

Absolutely stunning!

A wonderful year to pay tribute to Trois. He would have loved every single one.

Stunning photos. They would make a beautiful 'coffee table' book. Congratulations everyone.

Thanks Dave!

Great job to everyone who entered!!! I spent a lot of pleasurable time trying to figure out my favorites. Looking forward to next year.

Congratulations to ALL the winners!! Wonderful photos from everyone that entered this year!!

Okay, I have created an area that can be used for all of you to determine which photo goes on each month. To help out, please go here:

http://davesgarden.com/contest/2008/calendar.php

For each image, please select a month (or a cover). At the bottom, click the submit button to save your choices. Once you save your choices, you will be brought back again so you can see and review what you chose. Make changes as often as you'd like. Please select only one photo for each month.

I'll leave this page up and accessible until the day I put the calendar together, which should be in a week or two.

So many wonderful photos! Congratulations to everyone--to all the winners and to everyone who generously shared those beautiful or interesting images they saw and captured so well. And thank you--I'm surprised and honored to have a second place photo. It's a first for me.

Okay - just stopped sobbing long enough to post. I need to be big about this and forgive all of you who did NOT vote for my photos. We all do inexplicable things at times. We just need to move on. Closure helps heal.

I know what you're thinking - I should be grateful. I won second place in one category and got that mention thingy in another. Well, can you name the guy who almost beat Micheal Phelps?? I didn't think so.

It's not so much for me (I have medication) as for my two young kids, who were so looking forward to their daddy winning and getting a calendar. In fact, they were fighting over who gets to bring it in for show and tell first. Then the little guy said, 'Wait, Daddy is gonna win at least two first places so we can both bring one in!" They told all their classmates, who were so excited the teachers agreed to hold rallies in anticipation. The little guy was so excited that he promised a third win so a calendar could hang in the classroom. You see they're just learning about plants and how to tell what date it is, so it would have been perfect. In the rally, the kids were chanting, 'Dave, Dave, Dave!', and they have no idea who Dave is.

Could be for the best though. Children need to learn to deal with trauma. The timing is a bummer though. They just heard about the Santa thing on the school bus coming home yesterday. I tried comforting them with 'the calendar'.

I did not want to have to use this, but next year I will have to resort to my mass hypnosis thing I've been toying with. Okay - now concentrate. 'You will vote for my photos next year'. Repeat that 2009 times. Thank you.

Seriously - congratulations to all the winners and everyone who entered! Some fantastic photos this year. Very hard to choose in a few categories. Thanks to Dave and admin for such a great job on what is probably the most fun thing on DG. ^_^

edited to correct the spelling of calendar! No wonder I'm not getting one.

This message was edited Nov 18, 2008 10:01 AM

LOL, Victor!! You just made my morning, I'm choking here with laughter!

Congrats to all the winners, but there were NO losers! Beautiful entries from everyone!

Sure you're laughing Sue - you get a calendar...

This message was edited Nov 18, 2008 10:02 AM

Congratulations to everyone! Excellent photos and so difficult to choose. I'm looking forward to purchasing the calendar :)

Sharon

Victor: Love your photos!!! Sorry bout the calendar. :(

Now we have to choose which photo goes on each month? Argghh. More agonizing!

This year was the toughest so far, in my opinion. I saw some of my choices as winners, and many as runners up.

Congratulations to everyone who entered for making the voting so much fun.
Beautiful shots, all!

Deb

Congratulations to all the winners! It was a very hard contest to vote, as I don't think I saw a bad photo in the whole bunch. Thanks everyone for all of your contributions.

Edited because I don't spell so good today. :)

This message was edited Nov 17, 2008 10:51 AM

Dave, Will you post the link for selecting each month on it's own thread so I can get back to it easy. I need to keep looking before I decide! Thanks

Thanks y'all! I've been just silly happy all morning and smilin' like a lunatic. I can't believe I won one b/c the photos were so fantastic. Well done, everyone!

Victor, too funny! ROTFLOL!

Victor, Victor, Victor sigh. Resorting to guilt by kidlings will not improve your chances.