- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You hike it, bike it, and sight-see it.
You exercise the dog (and yourself), meet up with friends...and take images.
That would be at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, and now the officials want to see your images--or up to five of your best images. Eligible entrants are UC Davis faculty and staff (current and retired) and students (current and alumni).
What It's All About: UC Davis Repro Graphics, in collaboration with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, is sponsoring the UC Davis Calendar Photo Contest, with the winning images to be published in the Repro Graphics' annual made-to-order calendar giveaway.
The contest is open to professional and amateur photographers, provided they are affiliated with UC Davis in a capacity listed above. Photos must be horizontal images, at least 2760 pixels wide by 1874 pixels tall and in .jpg format.
Background: Each year, around October, Repro Graphics notifies faculty and staff about the availability of the made-to-order calendar giveaway. You pick the photo you like from the selected images, and soon, the calendar arrives in your mailbox. (You can also add any personalized dates such as birthdays and anniversaries.)
The top six photos, as rated by a panel of judges, will be posted on the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden's Facebook page where the public will vote for their favorites.
The prize? As the officials said: "A chance to be one of the featured selections in the next Repro Graphics made-to-order calendar, a gift bag of UC Davis swag, a professionally framed print of your winning photo and last, but not least, exposure for your talent on the walls of cubicles and offices campus-wide!"
Subjects? They could include landscapes, insects (think honey bees, bumble bees and butterflies), animals (think otters, chipmunks and ducks) and people (with signed photo release). However, entries may not contain the following: alcohol, drugs, or any kind of illegal or inappropriate behavior.
Deadlines:
- Submit up to five photos by 5 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 5
- Voting begins at noon on Friday, Sept. 14 on the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden Facebook page
- Voting ends at 11:59 on Thursday, Sept. 27
- Winners announced Friday, Sept. 28
Find more information (rules and how to submit) on this page.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
With your camera!
If you're into pollinators, plants and photography, and want to share your work nationally, here's a new project for you.
To generate some buzz for pollinators, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) is partnering with the Wild Bee Gardens app to sponsor a national photography contest.
Bay Area native bee enthusiast Celeste Ets-Hokin, who launched the Wild Bee Gardens app (with identification assistance from consultants, including native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis), alerted us to the contest.
It is "designed to raise awareness about the dazzling diversity of North America's native bees and other pollinators," she said, "and to engage residents from coast to coast in the vital and rewarding business of creating a continental tapestry of wild bee gardens,"
The winning photographs will be published in the Wild Bee Gardens app, and also promoted on the CFS website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
CFS, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with branch offices in San Francisco, Honolulu and Portland (Ore.) describes itself as "a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization working to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS also educates consumers concerning the definition of organic food and products."
Judges will choose numerous winners, and each will receive a free Wild Bee Gardens app to keep, or give as a gift, "so that you can share your enthusiasm for wild bees and their gardens with your friends and families," Ets-Hokin said. Winners also will receive a pollinator swag bag from CFS.
Want to learn more about the submission guidelines and selection criteria? Access http://centerforfoodsafety-wildbees.tumblr.com . The deadline to submit photos is April 17.
If you can't identify the pollinator, not to worry. After the judges select the winners, Thorp will identify the bees. He's a co-author of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), along with colleagues Gordon Frankie, Rollin Coville and Barbara Ertter. Thorp also co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University Press).
Speaking of bumble bees, they seem to be quite scarce this year. We saw our first black-tailed bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) of the season on March 15 on Spanish lavender in Vacaville.