Stunning beauty of gardens both great and small captured by Photographer of the Year winners

International Garden Photographer of the Year 17
Birdscape by June Sharpe was the overall winner, as well as the winner in the Abstract Views category (Image credit: June Sharpe / International Garden Photographer of the Year)

June Sharpe has won the overall prize in the annual International Garden Photographer of the Year contest, which is now in its 17th year. Her inventive image, was of a conifer trees shot in a Kent, England - but transformed into an abstract, wallpaper-like pattern.

"The layered branches of this conifer reminded me of the dancing cranes often featured in Japanese woodcuts," she tells us. But the effect, which also won her the 7iM Abstract Views category was achieved in Photoshop. "I added a fill layer and used exclusion blending mode to alter the colors and enhance the feeling of movement and sense of the ‘birds’ dancing in a fantasy woodland". 

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Chris George

Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography. 


His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.


He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.