Photography competition to celebrate Dublin’s Green Communities

Dublin Communities Gardens are more than just an alotment; they are a centre of community, a place where people and nature connect and thrive. Photo: Robert Moss.

A new An Taisce Environmental Photography Competition celebrates the beauty and diverse character of Dublin’s Community Gardens.

Horticulture

2 July 2018

Taking over the rough edges of the city one garden at a time, Dublin’s Green Community Spaces have brought a breath of fresh air to many of the city’s streets and estates, particularly since the last recession struck the city particularly hard nearly 10 years ago.

In many ways, Dublin’s Community Gardens have informally provided services which have experienced cuts during recession times, such as mental health and rehabilitation. Photo: Robert Moss.

These urban garden projects have contributed a great deal to Dublin’s quality of life over the last decade, sometimes in unexpected ways. Their contribution towards community interaction is strengthened by community gardening’s inclusivity. Indeed, gardening is one of the few activities that people from all walks of life engage in.

To celebrate all the hard won successes from scores of different community gardens, allotments, community orchards, and volunteer landscaping projects; a new Green Communities photo competition will promote the best images of community green space projects from across the whole city in one exhibition.

Part of Transdev’s commitment to sustainability is to ensure they work alongside the communities through which they operate, and support communities in their green initiatives. Photo: Neil Menzies, Transdev.

The photography competition will be open to anyone living, working, or visiting Dublin. The main requirement is for the submitted photographs to feature, or be otherwise relevant to, Dublin’s volunteer garden initiatives across the city. All such projects and their neighbourhoods stand to benefit from a city wide promotion of successful horticultural improvement.

If you would class yourself as a keen gardener, guerrilla gardener, allotment plot holder, or a Tidy Towns landscaper in Dublin then the 2018 Dublin Green Communities Garden Photography Competition is an ideal way to celebrate the success of your community gardening project in making Dublin a greener place for people, plants, and biodiversity.

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With a prize fund of over €1,000 it will attract interest from Dublin’s amateur garden photographers. There are three categories in the competition: Garden Activity, Nature in the Garden, and Landscapes/Citiscapes.

Entry is free, and there will be an award ceremony at Inspire Gallery, Dublin 1, in September 2018, where the winning images will be exhibited for a week.

For further information see the greencommunitiesireland.org/ website or contact gardenphotos@eeu.antaisce.org

This new environmental photograph completion is proudly supported by Diageo, Transdev — the Luas operator — and Dublin City Council.

⇒Dublin’s Community Gardens are freely accessible sites where people can regularly engage in outdoor activity if they don’t own their own garden or have access to a private allotment. Photo: Robert Moss.