Flowering ambition
Anna Omiotek-Tott switched to a more creative career, and discovered a new passion for photography in the process
Having just turned 40 and been made redundant from my last teaching post, I decided to change my career, and enrolled on a garden design course at Capel Manor College. I’d bought my first D-SLR, a Nikon D90, a few months earlier, and I was overjoyed when we were asked to take photos during our plant identification walks.
The course lasted three years, the college gardens in Enfield were extensive, the plants plentiful, and I was hooked. I’d found a real passion and became more of a garden photographer than a garden designer. I have now joined the Garden Media Guild and Professional Garden Photographers’ Association as a probationary member. Two consecutive third places in the Seasonal category of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition in 2012 and 2013 were also very encouraging.
If plant portraiture is my genre, spring is my season. I am drawn to the new, fresh growth and delicate pastel colours. With many flowers starting to bloom in February [1],[2], I enjoy a few months of chasing after the tiniest of flowers with one of my macro lenses, hoping