The Ethos of Access

The Ethos of Access

The synergy between mobile photography and competition ethos is just the beginning

©Sunny Shady Perch by Eric Roth
The Ethos of Access

All IGPOTY categories are meant to encourage positive and creative action with nature in a similar overarching objective. This is of course sharing the beauty and importance of a green planet in the most uplifting and inspiring way possible.

In the last blog post we touched on the theme of accessibility and why this is so important in achieving this aim. Accessibility is such a key competition tenet that finding new ways to engender this and the trends and behaviour of modern photographers becomes not just important, but necessary.

It has therefore made perfect sense to fully support and encourage use of mobile phones in garden photography. The ubiquity of smartphones, their processing power, creative flexibility and increasing affordability means that capturing gardens, plants and green environments has never been more natural or more enjoyable.

And that’s exactly how photography should feel - natural and enjoyable. This is also when we feel most creatively confident. So accessibility moves beyond mere descriptions of barriers, it starts describing a headspace for interpreting the world and our freedom to do so.

The mobile phone has opened up new ways of communicating with each other in ways we never thought possible. Indeed, images are a fundamental part of this digital conversation and we’re determined to play an ever increasing role within it.

In the coming years we want to take accessibility to new heights and give photographers even more opportunities to grow and be inspired. Gardens on the Go is just the start of this process.

This means moving beyond the use of the mobile phone to better understand what accessibility in photography and competitions really means and implementing more future facing ideas to bring gardens, plants and people ever closer.

To bring things together like this is not the preserve of individuals acting alone, but as a community. We’re much more successful when we have the support, encouragement and recognition of others.

Competition ethos then is not just something we support or believe in, it’s a road map for the future and we can’t wait to see you there.