It’s a bit of a challenge to think about flowers this time of year when overnight lows continue to plummet below zero and daytime “breezes” create wind chills that do much more than chill. However, February is the month in which PBS Wisconsin sponsors their annual Garden and Green Living Expo. Included in the Expo is a photo competition for amateur photographers from Wisconsin. Since I’m a card-carrying amateur photographer from Wisconsin, I decided to enter this event in 2022. It was fun, meaning that the judges actually selected some of my entries, so I also entered in 2023 and 2025. It turns out that 2024 was a “Damn, I missed the entry deadline!” situation.
There are a variety of categories in which to enter and photographers can enter a photo in any or all of these categories. Not being as young as I used to be, I did not enter in category 1. Despite the title to this post, the entries did not have to include flowers, but every entry had to include plant material.
- Novice Eye (Ages 7-15)
- Macro
- Landscape
- Plants & Flowers
- Birds & Bees (animal life)
- Abstract
- Phone/Tablet (any image taken with a phone or tablet)
In all three years I entered photographs in five categories. Birds & Bees was not a category in the first two years, probably because this is a family-friendly event. Since it’s nice this time of year to start dreaming about the warmer seasons that lie ahead, I thought it would be fun to show some of my accepted entries to help you picture that happy time of the year.
I was happy to find that the judges accepted all five of the photos that I entered in 2022. This could have been because they all were so good, or because they did not have many entries and needed all of them to fill the exhibit space. I hope it’s the former but, hey, you never know. Four of those five entries are shown below. I’m only showing four because one of my accepted images was misplaced and never exhibited. Fortunately, I found it in a box while taking down the photos after the Expo
Mouse over the small photos in galleries to see captions.
Click on any one to enlarge, then use arrows to scroll through the rest of the images.
When you arrive at the exhibit it’s great to see an extra tag next to one of your photos. That means you won a prize! Don’t tell my tax consultant, but this First Place for Plants and Flowers in 2023 increased my income by $50. Second Place would have garnered $25; Third Place, $10; and Honorable Mention, a pat on the back. I thought that there were many great entries so I was happy to have won this First Place for “Bleeding Hearts in the Ferns” (Plants and Flowers).
The judges again accepted all five of my 2023 entries. In addition to the First Place entry shown above, the following four were also included in the exhibit.
Lack of planning required me to sit out of the 2024 Garden and Landscape Expo but I was ready far ahead of time for the 2025 show! This time only three of my five entries were accepted by the judges. This could have been because some of my pictures were not very good, or because they had so many entries and wanted to include more photographers in the exhibit space. I hope it’s the latter but, hey, you never know. Here are the three accepted entries.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled February!
