RHS Medals for Portfolio Photography 2022

This post covers the photographers who received RHS Medals for their Photography Portfolio.

The RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show comprises two parts.

• One exhibition is for Botanical Art - covered in earlier posts this month and
• the second exhibition focuses on the Portfolio aspect of the RHS Photography Awards.

This post is ordered according to

• a preamble about the nature of the competition, exhibition and how it is judged
• the Awards and colour of medals
• with photographers in each category being listed alphabetically by surname. 
• links in their names are to their website - but I only liked to those who have a self-evident and serious interest in plants and not to those using this competition as some sort of marketing opportunity

All quotations are from the RHS Photographic Competition: Portfolio Category 2022 (PDF Guidance)

The RHS Portfolio Photography Category

Contrary to what the title of the show suggests this is NOT a Botanical Photography Exhibition. Its content and criteria for judging bears little relation to the Botanical Art Show.

Copper and Pewter by Paul Mitchell - from the Best in Show exhibit

I commented last year about aspects of the development of this particular show which I find unsatisfactory. It now seems to me that it has lost its original and unique purpose. 

The Portfolio category is different because it offers entrants the ability to:
* Submit a portfolio of work based on a minimum 6 images. The submission must form a series OR have a distinct common theme. It should include a hanging plan with a 250 word statement describing the work.
* From entries submitted, an initial shortlist is created having been assessed by our panel of Portfolio judges.
* All photographers shortlisted for the Portfolio category, are then invited to prepare their work in print, ready to hang their entry for exhibition at an RHS show.
* Exhibits in the portfolio category are judged as a whole against a set of RHS criteria at a designated RHS show.
* The RHS medals offered are Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver and Bronze
* A ‘Best Portfolio Photography exhibit’ with a prize is awarded to the most outstanding exhibit. 
RHS Photographic Competition: Portfolio Category 2022 (PDF Guidance)

Note that this introduction to the awards excludes the words "plants" and/or "botanical and/or "horticultural". One would be forgiven for thinking that it's all about the creative endeavour.

I think the saddest aspect of the show this year is that the move to the Saatchi Gallery means that

• genuine innovation and creativity with respect to exhibits has now been lost
• all work has to be the same size and framed in the same way - meaning that one the very distinctive aspects of the exhibition has been removed
• the number of words are severely curtailed
• some exhibits do not even explain which plants you are looking at
• which means that
  • the element of judging relating to presentation should no longer be weighted as it has been in the past
  • the exhibits are far less informative about the plants

The net result is that botanical photographers who have won Gold Medals in the past now refuse to exhibit in this very 'dumbed down' show. 

I also have a MAJOR issue with the focus, experience and calibre of the Judges in relation to this exhibition. The question I pose repeatedly is that if ALL other RHS medals can be awarded by specialists in each of the very specialised and expert categories why can't photography? Frankly in other competitions I often say, knowing who the Judges are tells you a lot about whether it's worth entering.....

Who are the judges?
Portfolio is judged by members of the RHS Portfolio Judging Panel. Panel members come from a wide range of backgrounds, some are professional plant and garden photographers, others are photographers working in other fields such as architecture. Others have their background in plantsmanship or gardening but all have a keen interest in photographic art and plants. Judges are selected each year and they do change year on year depending on their availability.

I have an even bigger issue with the fact that nowhere in the Guidelines for entrants to this show is there an EXPLICIT statement of ALL the criteria to be used in judging exhibits.

Instead we have some very generic and general sentences - one of which left me with a dropped jaw - because it contravenes competition law!! 

Portfolio is judged against a variety of criteria including the technical execution of the photography, how the portfolio hangs together as a whole, how the portfolio is presented and the horticultural content of the images........
​
Rules for the exhibition will be provided once date and venue are confirmed.

So absolutely no criteria relating to the "botanical" or "plant" content? Despite the name of the show? 

Maybe the show needs to be retitled as the RHS Botanical Art and Horticultural Photography Show?

Or maybe just a creative photography show which happens to involve plants?
​Even though plants do not get a mention in the guidance about "what is the Portfolio Category all about"!!

Below is the explanation of the exhibition hanging in Gallery 3 at the Saatchi Gallery. It contains a lot of content which is omitted from the Guidance Document and some which which it would have been very useful to include. See if you can spot the sentences which rankle,

Best in Show Award
​

​All photographs must be mainly of plants, flowers or gardens or some aspect of botany or horticulture, including fungi and lichens. This may include people in a horticultural environment. Images which include other aspects of garden wildlife such as birds, mammals or invertebrates must ensure that they are balanced with sufficient plant content and that the wildlife content is not dominant.

Best Exhibit in Show - Portraits of Time by Paul Mitchell

I hope that people will enjoy this portfolio of tree portraits, some ancient and others that help to make the rich tapestry of British Woodlands.
Narrative of Paul Mitchell's exhibit label

Portraits in Time by Paul Mitchell
​Paul is a first time exhibitor. Born in East Yorkshire, he now lives  in East Dorset. He is a Fellow of the British Photographic Society.  His interest in photography began at school. He studied graphic design at art college and had a design career in London working for many well known FMCG companies and brands. He now works as a professional landscape photographer and specialist book designer.

​He has had previous successes in Landscape Photographer of the Year, Outdoor Photographer of the Year and the International Garden Photographer of the Year. I'm not surprised.

A cash prize of £500 plus an RHS gift membership is awarded to the Portfolio named Best Portfolio Exhibit
​

RHS Portfolio Photography: Gold Medals
​

This is the only RHS competitive exhibition for photographers which is eligible for RHS Medals.

​Gold medals are only awarded to exhibits of the highest standards.

• Christine Adams - The Perpetual Cycle of Life that includes Death
• Tracy Calder - Plant Scars  - a former editor of Outdoor Photography magazine, and currently works as Technique Editor at Amateur Photographer magazine. She has written various photography books, including Close-up & Macro Photography. Her work has been exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery in London.
• Paul Mitchell - Portraits in Time
• John Shepherd - Tribute to the Rainbow

RHS Gold Medal - Plant Scars Tracy Calder

RHS Portfolio Photography: Silver Gilt Medals

• Libby Ellis - Cosmosis
• Soia Letourneau - The Thread
• Mark Lunn - New Life from Old

RHS Portfolio Photography: Silver Medals

• Alan Bousfield - Kent Orchids
• Konrad Cox - The Flowing Forest
• Sanjay Dinker Jani - Richard of York Gave Battle in Vein
• Kevin Dutton - Spring Bulbs - also exhibited in 2021 when he got a Bronze Medal
• Kaylie Mountford - Contained - a Study of Botanical Houses

RHS Portfolio Photography: Bronze Medals

• Emma TS Robinson - Still Life with Flowers
• Jacki Rosin - The Dawn of Spring
• Joseph Shaffery - A Window to A World of Forests

Previous Shows

• ​2021: 
  • RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show - Pros, Cons and the Future
  • Review: RHS London Portfolio Photography Show - which includes a summary of how this exhibition has developed over time - and lost its way....
• 2020 - show was cancelled
• 2019 - RHS Portfolio Photography Show 2019 - Selected Exhibits
• 2018 - RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners
• 2017 - RHS Awards for Botanical Photography 2017

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​More about botanical photography
​

You can read and see more about botanical photography on the following pages on my Botanical Art and Artists website

• HISTORY: Famous Botanical Photographers
• CONTEMPORARY: You can find Notable contemporary botanical photographers  on my page about people working on other media - Botanical Printmakers, Photographers, Sculptors and Digital Illustrators​
  
• This label is used for all blog posts about botanical photography on this news blog - and references non-RHS botanical photography shows and photographers.