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

Richard is an experienced horticulturist who worked at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for 37 years. He was Head of Garden Design at Kew and his designs included The Great Broad Walk Borders and The Carbon 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 | AOP Accredited Photographer, Author, Lecturer, BEM, Fellow RGS

Clive Boursnell is a photographer, author and lecturer with an extensive career spanning documentary, garden and people focused photography. His work has appeared widely in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times Colour Supplement, Vogue, Country Life and Country Living.

Over the course of his career, Clive has contributed photography to publications and commissions for organisations including the National Trust, English Heritage, the Royal Opera House and the Science Museum, as well as for private garden and country house clients.

Clive is particularly well known for his long running photographic documentation of Covent Garden and New Covent Garden Market, which he has photographed continuously since the late 1960s. In recognition of this distinguished body of work, he received an Outstanding Achievement Award at the World Food Photography Awards in 2025.

Clive is the author of several books on gardens and landscapes. He holds a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to photography and is an AOP Accredited Photographer.

Paul Debois | Photographer and lecturer

Paul is a multi-award-winning photographer whose diverse career of over 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.

Polina Plotnikova | Photographer and tutor, ARPS. FRPS. AFIAP

Polina is a photographer and tutor specialising in flower portraiture and still life. Prior to becoming a full-time photographer, Polina studied Art History at university, and then worked in several museums, galleries and with individual photographers.

Working both in the studio and in gardens, she approaches photography as an act of construction, where images are conceived mentally and then carefully realised through controlled lighting, composition and colour. Her style, love and knowledge of the arts have 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.

In addition to running hands-on photographic workshops for The Royal Photographic Society, Polina gives talks to various photo clubs and associations. She is an assessor for The Royal Photographic Society Distinction Board (Visual Art category).

Polina is a Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society and has a distinction of Excellency of Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique (EFIAP). She has won four RHS Gold medals, and four RHS Silver-gilt medals for her photography portfolios, as well as many national and international awards.

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 going freelance 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 The London Magazine, and she also edits the specialist title Garden Design Journal.

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 photography festivals. She runs the PhotoBooth Project, and this pop-up studio has been commissioned to facilitate portrait photography workshops for different groups, such as an intergenerational project with older women and refugee girls for the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the London Transport Museum to celebrate the opening of the East London Line and for many council run events to celebrate diversity and multi-culturalism in Tower Hamlets and the London Boroughs of Newham and Hackney.

She is currently a lecturer in Photography for the BA Photography at London Metropolitan University, East London.

Catherine MacDonald | Landscape and Garden Designer, Photographer

Catherine is a multi-award-winning landscape and garden designer with a passion for horticulture, nature and landscape photography. With 20 years of exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Catherine has extensive experience in the delivery of high-quality, intricately detailed projects. She has designed gold medal-winning gardens for jewellery company Boodles and non-alcoholic drinks brand Seedlip. Over her career, she has been awarded a total of ten RHS medals, two Best in Category awards and a People’s Choice Award.

Catherine is Principal Landscape Designer at Landform Consultants Ltd, based in Surrey. Recent prominent design work includes small, intricate courtyard gardens for a city Passive House, a rural garden with challenging levels and schemes for HM King Charles III at the Sandringham Estate and Windsor Castle. As a RHS garden judge, Catherine has chaired and served on RHS Show Garden Selection Panels and has mentored RHS Young Designers for the past seven years.

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Photography Judges