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BELGARD Hardscapes Photo Competition Garden
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Hummingbird earns first place photography win for Mokena Mom
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Visiting the Bird Haven Greenhouse in Joliet turned out to be an inspiring day for Linda Malmborg of Mokena, Ill. Her photograph titled "Summer Flight 0708," taken at the greenhouse, earned her first place in the photo competition at the 2009 Belgard Chicago Flower & Garden Show.
The show, which ran March 7 through March 15 at Navy pier on Chicago's lakefront, asked visitors to donate $1 to charity for every vote they cast in the contest. While she was at the Joliet greenhouse, Malmborg managed to capture her subject at the exact right moment. "I think the bird posed for me", says Malmborg who has always had a fascination with hummingbirds.
Her passion for photography began while photographing her daughter's beach volleyball games.
Being a gardener at heart, and member of the Mokena Garden Club, Malmborg often visits greenhouses and always carries her camera. Her winning photograph was taken with a Nikon D300 camera and will be featured in marketing materials for the 2010 Chicago Flower & Garden Show.
Proceeds from the photo contest will benefit NeighborSpace, a non-profit organization committed to greening up Chicago by planting gardens in vacant lots.
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See the 2009 finalists in the Belgard Hardscapes Garden (Garden #17)! While there, be sure to vote for your faborite image -- ballots are available for only $1 each with proceeds benefitting Chicago's Neighbor Space Organization.
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Photography only a 'hobby' of 2008 contest winner
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For last year's winner Kasia Ozga, 27, of Wilmette, picture-taking seemed a very organic process. "The light happened to strike that rose at the perfect moment and click!" she remembers.
Ozga was in Paris, it was February and she was amazed by how early in the year so many flowers were blooming. Moved by this, she borrowed a Nikon SLR Camera (her own Canon was in the shop) and this image -- titled "Awakening" -- became part of a series she calls "Flowers in February."
At the time the photo was taken, Ozga was a Harriet Hale Woolley grant recipient at the Fondation des Etats Unis in Paris (from October 2006-June 2007). She admits to only having started to take photographs over the last couple of years and considers photography more of a hobby alongside her primary artistic practice, which is in sculpture.
She is currently back in France on an artist's residency at "Shakers, Lieux d'Effervescence" in Montluçon through June of this year. It will culminate with a show of her sculptures in the Orangerie of the Chateau de la Louvière in Montluçon (www.shakers.fr).
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