Cypress Sanctuary, Finalist, Trees, Woods & Forests / 
Suwanee River Valley, Florida, USA / 

Flooded backwaters in the Suwanee River Valley provide a quiet solitude at the end of the day. At times of high water, these flooded forests are a great escape to take a kayak or canoe through. Here, the last of the day’s light warms the trees. Adapted to live several months submerged, these cypress and tupelo seem to prefer to live together, entwined at the base. The arching branches of the trees seemed the perfect way to frame this image. Then it was only a matter of waiting for the light. A tall tripod, canoe, and waterproof bags were all necessary for this image.

The Great Escape / 
Nantlle, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, UK / 

Living in the countryside presents many opportunities to photograph shy and secretive animals. In my local field, I wanted to capture the mole’s large digging feet and brief journey to the surface. Molehills are seen quite easily but the mole hardly ever. I had to observe the movements of the moles for several hours over a period of a couple of days. I then laid on my front and waited for any soil movement.

Kite Flying on Clifton Downs, Winner, Breathing Spaces / 
Bristol, UK / 

At the end of a bleak January day, kite flying was perfect for working up an appetite. The afternoon light was beautiful and the wind was biting.

Winter. Finalist, Breathing Spaces / 
City Park, Łódź,  Poland / 

This is a historical park under legal protection, very near my garden. The rapid change in air temperature creates unusual hoar frost. When I saw the morning clear weather, sun and frost, I took my camera to take this shot

Sunrise on Misty Mountains, Winner, Trees, Woods & Forests / 
Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Anhui Province, China / 

I have long been fascinated by the many traditional Chinese paintings and modern photographs of beautiful, dramatic mountainous scenes. I travelled from Canada to China, and this visit included a three day stay at Huangshan. To see the sunrise, we left our hotel at 4:20am to reach a lookout point ahead of the crowds. The visibility of daybreak is weather dependent; we were treated to a spectacular display of the sun rising over the mountains and flowing mist.

Submerged in Memories / 

When my artist mother moved from her home of fifty years, she gave me all her collage paper. I had no idea what I would do with the beautiful sheets of colour. The paper held memories of my mother and the collages she had made over the years; as a photographer, my daily walks in nature held their own memories. It became my mission to combine the memories together, using elements from both. Looking through the lens of my camera, I was transformed with excitement as I watched the submerged papers mingle with the small bits of earth gathered from my walks. The memories had finally merged into a form that held the essence of those cherished moments. These images were created using collage paper and plants. The paper was submerged into liquid in a small dish and was left to sit awhile for the colors to bleed, merge and soften. The plants were then carefully laid on top and left to sit and merge into the liquid and paper.

Penstemon sunrise / 

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon / 

Penstemon only grows in a very few isolated spots around Crater Lake. Of course every year is different, but with some scouting you can find small patches like this one. Often they don’t always fit into a good composition, but this location had the flowers, lake and sunrise visible together. Wind was a problem, and I had to wait a good deal of time for it to stop moving the flowers, which made me nervous, thinking I would miss the sunrise. I was excited to find an image that showed three aspects all together – the flowers, lake and sunrise. I spent several days in this area and scouted locations each day, so finding this particular spot in the early morning darkness was much easier.

Caterpillar’s Ideal /
Wuhan City, China / 

In the late autumn sun, after the sawfly larvae finish sloughing their skin they stay quietly in the holes of the leaves. They must grow before winter comes up again, and finish their life transformation as soon as possible. From endings come new beginnings.

Inner City farmer, Cleveland, Ohio, USA / 

‘Cleveland Crops’ is a program that teaches disabled inner city youths and adults how to grow food on farms created in abandoned lots. The food raised is sold to restaurants and through farmers’ markets. I was struck by the variety of shapes, sizes and colors of the tomatoes in the box. When I asked him to pose his neutral expression and the anonymity of the mirrored sunglasses highlighted the natural caution of life in the inner city, which in my mind was contrasted by the cheery tomatoes. I was working on and blogging a photo project documenting young farmers. I had arranged to photograph one of Cleveland’s leaders in the slow food and urban farming movement at this location when I saw and approached this young man.

Fairy Mist /

Fairy Lake, Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada / 

Over the years I have photographed this lovely sapling (Pseudotsuga menziesii). With each visit, the conditions have been quite different. On this occasion, a thin layer of fog hovered just above the lake, and combined with a slow shutter speed the fog created a dreamlike quality. Finding an angle that isolated the tree against a clean background was particularly difficult as the shooting location is rather shrubby. I needed a long lens to isolate the tree: too high an angle and I would include too much sky, but too low an angle and I would include the shoreline of the lake.

Penstemon sunrise, Overall winner /
Crater Lake National Park, Oregon /

Penstemon only grows in a very few isolated spots around Crater Lake. Of course every year is different, but with some scouting you can find small patches like this one. Often they don’t always fit into a good composition, but this location had the flowers, lake and sunrise visible together. Wind was a problem, and I had to wait a good deal of time for it to stop moving the flowers, which made me nervous, thinking I would miss the sunrise. I was excited to find an image that showed three aspects all together – the flowers, lake and sunrise. I spent several days in this area and scouted locations each day, so finding this particular spot in the early morning darkness was much easier.

Gruszki, Finalist, Bountiful Earth /
Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland / 

This year my pear tree gave a lot of fruit for the first time since I planted it. The fruits were in many shapes and sizes, which meant that it was a great subject for photographs. Everyone in my family had to ask me for permission to eat pears – they could eat only those which had been photographed! The pears are like actors on the stage, all the lights are directed only at them, all the rest is in shadow. I was inspired by the unusual shapes of the fruit. Sometimes they were thin and twisted like witch fingers, sometimes they were oddly curved, sometimes I could see funny faces

Mystic Morning, 2nd place, Wildflower Landscapes /
Kamerven Nature Reserve, Gerwen, Netherlands / 

It promised to be a cold windless night followed by a sunny day. This will usually result in a layer of mist. These were the perfect conditions to photograph the flowering cotton grass in its environment. As I frequently visit this nature reserve close to home I knew the sun would set also on the right spot this time of year. I just had to make sure I was at the right place at the right time. I want to show the often overlooked beauty of plants and nature close to home. This way I can be there at the right place at the right moment.

Corn Harvest, 2nd place,Bountiful Earth /
Sichuan province, People’s Republic of China /

Livestock and humans alike will be kept going through winter on this fine crop of maize. The elderly farmer was looking after two children while parents were at work in the fields. It is a remote and hostile mountainous environment where man and giant panda vie for survival. The panda is losing. The repetitive sculptural pillars of corn and the magnificent splash of colour caught my eye: amazing that it will all be husked and milled by hand. I was visiting Wolong panda reserve in the mountains of western China. On the way there we flashed past this little family farmyard. I immediately shouted for the driver to stop. It was too good to miss.

Golden Trees, Special Awards: New Shoots /
Spinone al Lago, Bergamo, Lombardia, Italia / 

Photograph taken on the shores of Lake Endine, precisely on the edge of town Spinone al Lago, looking towards the East. I had gone there to shoot the sun rise with the autumn colours of the trees and their reflections on the lake. Doing before a tour of the lake when the sun had not yet risen (7.05 am) and then, in returning home, a ray of sunlight filtering through the mountains, illuminating the trees.

Dogwood Cover, Winner, Beauty of Plants /
Canberra, Australia /

I was visiting the annual ‘Floriade’ event that is held in Canberra and had been taking photographs of the beautiful flower displays when I came across this tree. The dogwood tree was not part of the display – it grows freely in the park. I was attracted to the masses of beautiful pink flowers. I looked up and loved the contrast of the pink against the blue sky – it pays to look up!