Have your ever heard of Canowindra (pronounced "ke-nown-dra") a township located near Cowra in the central west of New South Wales?

Located just over 4 hours drive from Sydney, this olde worlde 19th century township, boasting verandahs and old shops along the heritage listed, crooked main street, provided the subject for photographer Steve Mullarkey's upcoming print exhibition, entitled Gaskill Street.

Pam, Cathy and Cheryl, Gardens in Focus team members, were lucky enough to meet Steve and view his interesting and unique style of photographic art. Nothing to do with botanic gardens this time, but an interesting photographic style and well worth a visit. Opening on 24 March 2012 the exhibition runs until 31 May 2012.

Esther’s Table is tucked away in the back streets of Annandale, near Sydney. This gorgeous corner café, which exudes vintage charm, is named after the convict wife of Captain Johnson, Esther Abrahams, the unofficial first lady of Annandale. It is housed in the historic 1902 grocery store on the corner of Reserve and Annandale Streets, and is currently exhibiting the winning and finalist prints from our 2010 competition.

The interior of the cafe has retained its quaint old-fashioned charm and this is where you’ll see 15 of our top photos expertly hung and beautifully lit, showing them to their best advantage.

So, pop in to Esther’s Table for superb coffee and something nice from their varied menu, and immerse yourself in the ambience while viewing these stunning photographs. See for yourself the images that our judges have deemed to be the "best of the best" botanic garden photos.

The café provides free wireless internet and is child, wheelchair and pooch friendly.

Esther’s Table, 61 Annandale Street, Annandale

http://estherstable.com/

Using social networking we can communicate and share so much more easily than in the past. "Loving Nature" recently visited the Gardens in Focus Facebook page and shared an amazing photograph with our community.

The photo, entitled, "Oh no!!... It wasn't me who ate the leaf......honest......." introduced us to Loving Nature's talent in capturing nature in photography. We couldn't resist sharing some of Loving Nature's beautiful photographs, but to see them all visit our Facebook page and follow the posts from Loving Nature.

Some people go to great lengths to enter a photo in Gardens in Focus. We recently heard from entrant Steve, who shared his story with us. Steve entered his photo, simply named "Dragon's Domain". he says:

"Capturing the shot of this gentle dragon took a lot of trust from it, patience from me, and many visits over several weeks."

In the process one day, my glasses accidently slipped into the Brisbane river. If anyone was watching when I took the snap they would have witnessed a juggling act. As I tried to catch my falling glasses 3 times within the space of a metre, I also slid over the bank. The glasses sank and headed away with the tide. Meanwhile, my backpack and tripod were also swinging, heading towards the water in one direction, with my camera heading in another. Saving the equipment was all I could manage, the glasses were lost. What a laugh it would have been to see!"

"I was bruised all over my ribs for weeks. I needed new glasses anyway, so I can have a laugh thinking back at the moment now."

"The dragon still won't trust me though, so it must have an incredible memory. Other people can walk or jog past it, but as soon as it sees me coming, it runs off into the Botanical Gardens, regardless of whether or not it's had a morning sunbake and dip in the Brisbane River."
 
Thank you for sharing this funny story with us, Steve. We wish you, and your wonderful water dragon, good luck in the competition.

Janet Gulliver has had an interest in photography since her teenage years, but only in the last two years has it become an absolute passion, when she purchased a DSLR. It is still a learning experience for Janet, and she suspects, will be ongoing. Other photographers are so helpful, especially when photographing in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Mt Annan and Mt Tomah.

Janet says, "Although I take photos wherever I go, the Gardens offer such incredible diversity, with something new to photograph every time I’ve been there. I especially love to photograph birds and flowers."

"This landscape photograph is at Mt Annan (which specialises in Australian native plants) and I also photographed the native (edible) passionfruit there, whilst on a guided Wetland walk." The New Holland Honeyeater on the waratah was photographed at Mt Tomah. Janet says, "The only possible way I could photograph the bird was to grab the moment and disregard the fact that I was shooting into the sun, with the bird in the shadow. The vegetation turned out to be very “busy” and incredibly bright, so I converted the background to black. I wanted the bird and the waratah to be the focus of the "story". Muting the background achieved the result I was after.

Thank you, Janet for sharing your story with us. Janet's photography is strongly influenced by her art. She paints and draws in a variety of media and especially enjoys botanical art. Janet has realised that the flexibility and adaptability of modern photographic techniques create the opportunity to express her artistry in a way different to the brush and palette.

Visit Janet's website here: Pictures To Frame.

Gardens in Focus judge, photographer Anne Geddes has been honoured with two book awards in the United States, reported Ninemsn News on Thursday 3 November 2011.

Anne won the photography and e-book non-fiction categories in the USA Best Books 2011 Awards for her coffee-table book Beginnings (2010). Awards were presented for titles published in 2010 and 2011.

Anne has also recently won two other awards for Beginnings. She was the gold medal winner for coffee-table books in the US in The Independent Publisher Book Awards 2011 and the winner of the portraits section of the Federation of European Photo Book of the Year Awards.

You can read more at Ninemsn here.

Gardens in Focus is very proud to have Anne as a member of our judging panel and extend our warmest congratulations to her.

Visit Anne's website here.

A Gardens in Focus 2010 finalist has been overwhelmed after being considered as a nominee to represent NSW at the global Oslo Business for Peace Award, reports the Blue Mountains Gazette.

Alison Jane Rice will attend the Sydney Town Hall on November 18 as a finalist in the Business for Peace category when the NSW Business Chamber hands out its annual awards. If she claims the honour Alison will travel to Norway as the area nominee for the prestigious ceremony that recognises the work of outstanding business people around the world who have been able to achieve success while acting in an ethically responsible way.

Through her business, Botanical Theatre, Alison has continued her lifelong commitment to supporting the less fortunate in society through creative arts education.

Thank you for sharing your success with us, Alison. Good luck on November 18.

This lovely photo by Michael Fletcher was the winning entry in the Eden Gardens (Sydney) “Gorgeous Gardens Digital Photography Competition” held last year.

The “Lady Bird Beetle” snapped in one of his Oyster plants (Acanthus mollis) was taken after a day of gardening at his Bilgola Plateau home.

It was this success that encouraged Michael to enter several photos in the inaugural Gardens in Focus competition last year. His shot "Water Dragon" took out first place in the Amateur - Garden Art category and was featured in a recent news post, Tips From the Judges - Part 2.

Congratulations Michael, thank you for sharing your winning photo with us. Hopefully, you'll have similar success in this year's Gardens in Focus competition. 

To continue our previous post with tips from the Gardens in Focus judges, we now look at some technical tips for improving your photographs.

• Get into the garden in the early morning or late afternoon, or after rain when the light is softer.
• Get down close to the ground to see a different perspective.
• Visit the gardens often and plan your shots, and come again when the light is right or the flower beds are in bloom.
• Experiment with lighting. Sometimes in the daytime it is good to use a fill-in flash to reduce the strong contrast. At other times a bright flash will flatten the image.
• Visit some regional gardens to see a new location.
• When taking vistas place some people in the shot to give some interest and sense of scale; even if they are not the main point of focus.
• Use your zoom lens or editing software in a limited way, to crop your photo of distracting elements like a blemished leaf or an unattractive flower, and direct the focus to something of beauty or sensuality.
• Strong lines that extend across a photograph should draw the viewer’s eye into the picture.
• Use the rule of thirds: Imaginary lines that are one third of the picture from either side or the top or bottom, are a picture’s area of interest. Thirds are also good lines for horizons (try to avoid dividing the picture across the middle in either direction).

So, why don't you visit a new botanic garden, take your camera and share your wonderful shots with us. You never know, you may just be one of the big winners!

This week, Gardens in Focus IT Manager, Cheryl Hill has been holidaying in far north Queensland. She took the opportunity to visit the Cairns Botanic Gardens which are renowned for having one of the best Australian exhibitions of tropical plants.

This beautiful garden hosts both native and exotic tropical plants. Many treasures where to be found, presenting plenty of opportunities for photography. The flowers and trees were abundant and interesting and the pathways were bathed in cool, dappled light. The lawn area was partly covered in dry, crunchy leaves under the trees but the open areas were just right for enjoying the sunny day relaxing on the grass.

One of the outstanding plants on display is the Giant Amorphophallus (Amorphophallus gigas) from Sumatra which is just beginning to flower now in early October. A garden caretaker took the time to describe the features of this distinctive, interesting plant that only flowers once each year. Cheryl's mum was amazed at the huge flower which was so much taller than her!

Elsewhere in the garden, Cheryl found the Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) from South America. What a strange-looking plant with flowers and giant fruit emerging direct from the trunk.

Cheryl says, "If you're in the area, why not visit the Cairns Botanic Garden? Exploring the cool, lush garden is a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours and the delicious lunch served in the cafe shouldn't be missed."

Of course - remember to take your camera!

See more of Cheryl's photos in our Flickr photo set: Cairns Botanic Gardens.

Have you been to a tropical botanic garden like the Cairns Botanic Garden? Share your experiences below and upload your tropical botanic garden photos to Flickr for us to see.

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