BACKYARD Inspiration
BACKYARD is the WildArt Photographer of the Year competition theme for August. Inspired by the reconnection a lot of us felt for our local wildlife during the days of Covid-enforced lockdowns, BACKYARD seeks to celebrate the wonder of the wildlife we have close to home.
If you have read a few of the other blogs I’ve previously written and watched some of the Facebook Live Broadcasts, you’ll know that WildArt POTY is a competition which is not necessarily obsessed with celebrating the world’s more iconic species. It is concerned with the art of the image, regardless of the subject it portrays. Take an artistic shot of a ladybird with an approach the judges haven’t seen before, and you are likely to score higher than an image of a larger animal taken in a more conventional manner. WildArt sees the beauty in all of nature, from the microscopic to the mega.
Backyard seeks image entries which have been taken in either your back garden or your local patch. It seeks to celebrate the wildlife on your doorstep, be it urban, suburban, or rural. There is no distance limit from your home in force, but images should have been taken in a location that is local to you, the sort of place you could easily visit during the strict lockdowns that were in force last year for most of us at various times. If you were able to visit the location easily during an hour’s daily exercise, then this is the sort of place that’s eligible. If you would need more than 5 minutes in a car to get somewhere, then that isn’t in the spirit of the category. Please do take the time to watch the Facebook Live Broadcast I did with the category judge Rebecca Nason as it’s full of useful tips, entertaining chat, and great photography.
As you may also know, I like to use the WildArt categories to look at my own back catalogue, and I’ve been quite surprised at the obvious gaps that have appeared in my repertoire. I’ve also tried to adjust my mindset to embrace some of the category concepts in my own work going forward. Categories such as SPACE, ABSTRACTS and MONOCHROME have been particularly eye-opening and have had a positive impact in the way I look at my photography. Constantly questioning your approach and challenging preconceptions is a great way to keep your photography fresh and your work original and diverse, so I hope the competition is inspiring you in the same way too.
As I’ve done with previous months, I’ve looked through my back catalogue to see what I have photographed in my local area, and which may make suitable competition entries. Over the last 18 months, most of my photography has been taken within a couple of miles of my front door, so I have plenty to choose from, including an image that gained second place in an international photography competition recently. I hope that the images displayed in the gallery below will inspire you to go through your own local images, and maybe even get out and create something jaw-dropping in the coming weeks. If you’ve currently nothing suitable in your collection, then what better excuse than to rise to the challenge and see what you can produce to enter into the category, you have all of August after all…….
Rob Read. August 2021.
