03/13/17

Rose Photography in the ARS

Rose Photography in the American Rose Society: Results of the 2016 ARS Digital Photography Contest

Rose photography in the American Rose Society has a growing interest, no pun intended. 🙂 The American Rose Magazine has had a photography contest for some time. In recent years, the contest has become a digital competition. Online entry is easy, and mailed CD’s, DVD’s, and thumb drives are also accepted. Yesterday, March 12, the ARS used online methods to announce the winners of the 2016 competition. Not only was it fun, but all of the winners could be shown. While the top winners will appear in the American Rose Magazine, print space does not allow for the showing of all winners.

I was very happy to win the Judges Class with ‘Hot Cocoa,’a floribunda rose grown by my mother and photographed by me. ‘Hot Cocoa’ is a russet rose, and russet is always a challenge to photograph!

Floribunda Rose ‘Hot Cocoa.’ Winner of the Judges Class, 2016 American Rose Society Digital Photography Contest

A very big winner in the regular classes is the fourth, and newly appointed, PSWD Photography Chair, Juanita Ortega. I remember when Juanita was just beginning rose photography. She won awards with gorgeous images taken with a point-and-shoot camera and no editing software. (I also remember when she was just beginning in Arrangements.) She brings knowledge, dignity, and commitment to PSWD photography, and the PSWD is lucky to have her. Yesterday I lost track of all of her awards, but you can see all of them in this YouTube video, along with all of the other winners. A brief introduction is followed by all of the winners in all of the classes. Enjoy!

The rules for the 2017 ARS Digital Photography Contest have already been posted. Think about entering.

Rose show season is rapidly approaching, and the emphasis will move to rose photography in print form. Some people say entering a print is too expensive, referring to having it mounted and matted somewhere. Last year I prepared a short “how-to”in Kindle form. I show not only how to do it easily, but also how to do it inexpensively. More than that, this method eliminates all the “waves” frequently seen in some of the images in our rose shows.

The American Rose Society now offers a variety of options and settings for sharing your rose images.

03/11/17

Daylight Savings Time Tomorrow!

Daylight Savings Time Starts Tomorrow!

Daylight Savings Time starts tomorrow. “Spring Forward, Fall Back.” Be sure to set your clocks an hour ahead before you go to bed…or not. These days I often change them in the morning. I do try to catch sunrise, and in this image you can see quite clearly where the sun will rise.

March Sunrise

Wishing you a beautiful sunrise!

03/8/17

“Garlic” a Nominee in 10th Annual International Color Awards

“Garlic” Honored in the 10th Annual Color Awards

Garlic is not only wonderful in food, it can be great fun to photograph. Some types produce “scapes,”which visually are quite interesting. I made this photograph at the Tucson Botanical Gardens in May, 2015. I was in Tucson for a seminar to update my credentials as an American Rose Society Accredited Horticulture Judge, but I took time to visit the botanic gardens. This is only one of many photographs I took that day.

Garlic

I was notified today that the image was a Nominee in the 10th Annual International Color Awards, in the Still Life Category. Some of you who read here regularly may recall seeing it before. It was juried into the 2015 Corrales Fine Arts Show, where I showed it on metal.

The Press Release

I thank the International Color Awards and the jurists for this year.

Google has a lot of different images of these scapes.

“Garlic”- 10th Annual International Color Awards Nominee

03/4/17

House Finch in Breeding Plumage

House Finch in Breeding Plumage, on Rose ‘Mermaid’

The house finch is a very common backyard bird here in Albuquerque. During breeding season, the males take on a much more colorful plumage. This guy seems pretty pleased with himself.

He is sitting on a branch of ‘Mermaid,’ a hybrid bracteata introduced in the US in 1918. Regular readers will recognize it as one of my favorite roses. I have hung a cylinder feeder near it, and any birds hang out on ‘Mermaid’ as they wait their turn at the feeder.

Roses are beginning to leaf out. ‘Mermaid’ is the one rose I cut back in the fall, for reasons I have explained multiple time over the years on this blog. So, I can just watch it leaf out and then bloom a little later.

The other roses, however, are leafing out a little earlier than I would like, and I will be pruning them soon. Hopefully, it will be safe… One year, before I knew anything about roses in Albuquerque, I pruned in February! I had one of the best spring blooms ever that year! But, I also recall 2005, when I pruned in early April and did not fertilize until late April. We got a hard freeze in May, which pretty much wiped out the spring bloom here. That was a freak occurrence, but in the time of climate change, who knows?

Nevertheless, I am ready to begin pruning roses, and will hope for the best.

I will also enjoy the birds that come to the yard. 🙂