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Photography Judges

Discover the experts behind the judging panel for the photography category at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show. This medal-awarded category features a series of six images on a unifying theme, judged on technical skill, botanical relevance, and creativity

Photography Judges profiles

Meet the judges who select the very best in portfolio photography:

Richard Wilford

Richard Wilford (RHS Photography Judging Chair) | Horticulturist, garden designer, photographer and author

Richard is an experienced horticulturist who has worked at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for 36 years. He is currently Head of Garden Design at Kew and his designs have included The Great Broad Walk Borders and Evolution Garden.

He is a photographer and author, writing articles for gardening magazines and websites, and has written eight books on plants and gardens, often illustrated with his own photographs. Richard is a member of the RHS Bulb Expert Group and has been a judge for over seven years. He has judged floral exhibits at various RHS Shows including the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

Clive Boursnell

Clive Boursnell | Photographer, author and lecturer

Clive’s extensive portfolio of work regularly appears in tabloids and magazines such as The Sunday Times Colour Supplement, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Honey, Over21, Country Living, and Country Life. He regularly contributes to publications for The National Trust, English Heritage, RCA, Royal Opera House, The London Coliseum, The Rothchild’s, ASMF Chamber Orchestra, and the Science Museum.

His commissions extend to brochures and books for private country house clients, garden owners and makers, artists and musicians. Clive holds a British Empire Medal (BEM) award for his outstanding contribution and dedication to photography, a Russian fellowship with the V&A and is an AOP Accredited Photographer.

Polina Plotnikova

Polina Plotnikova | Photographer and tutor

They say a photographer is either a picture taker or a picture maker. If so, Polina is firmly in the picture-makers camp. It comes as no surprise that Polina has naturally followed the path of photography. In her early days in London, she worked with picture agencies and libraries, processing submissions, and managing production.

Polina holds photography distinctions with the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) and Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique (EFIAP), four RHS Gold medals, and four RHS Silver-gilt medals, as well as many national and international awards to her credit. Her style, love, and knowledge of the arts has given her the ability to build an impressive portfolio of still-life and flower photography, a body of work that has attracted a great deal of attention.

As a tutor, Polina is very much in demand. She runs regular workshops covering many aspects of creative photography. She is an international ambassador for Lensbaby optics.

Paul Debois

Paul Debois | Photographer and lecturer

Paul is a multi-award-winning photographer whose diverse career of 20 years encompasses an extensive body of work photographing cars, people, and new development projects for numerous advertising and product placement campaigns.

In recent years, Paul’s love of nature and his fresh and inspiring approach to floral and landscape capture has taken his work in a new direction, creating studies of light, shadow, texture and form. His assignments now fill the pages of The English Garden, Gardens Illustrated, Landscape, Modern Garden, and BBC’s Gardeners’ World, with countless features published in France, Germany, and the US through GAP.

Over the years, Paul has taught botanical photography courses for the RHS and appeared as a guest judge for the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition.

Arabella St. John Parker

Arabella St. John Parker | Freelance journalist, editor and editorial consultant

Arabella is an experienced journalist and editor with particular interest and expertise in gardens, interiors, buildings, design and place-making, photography, and the arts.

Prior to setting up her own business several years ago, she was the houses and gardens Editor for Homes & Gardens magazine and before that, the Deputy Editor of Country Homes & Interiors. She writes for publications such as House & Garden, The English Garden, The Telegraph and Grand Designs, and she also edits the specialist title Garden Design Journal on a freelance, part-time basis.

Heather McDonough

Heather McDonough | Artist, photographer and educator

Heather is an artist, photographer and educator who explores photography through installation, moving image, and book making. Her work is inextricably linked to landscape and the natural world, even at a distance or through an urban view.

She is an experienced educator who has led a wide range of photographic workshops for community groups, galleries, museums, and festivals. Her pop-up studio, the PhotoBooth Project, has delivered portrait workshops for diverse groups – including intergenerational projects with older women and refugee girls – commissioned by institutions like Dulwich Picture Gallery, the London Transport Museum, and local councils in Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Hackney.

Currently, Heather is a lecturer in Photography for the BA Photography (recently voted Association of Photographers Course of the Year 2023 and 2022) at London Metropolitan University, East London.

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