Our photo contributor Jacky Parker has taken top honours in the RHS Photographic Competition 2008, sponsored by Medici, and was named RHS Photographer of the Year, winning first prize in the Plant Portrait Category. Jacky's striking image of Rudbeckia hirta 'Marmalade', was selected from over 4,500 entries, from across the UK and around the world. Click the winning image above to go through to the image page on Fotoviva. This year’s judges included renowned garden photographer, Tim Sandall, Deputy Editor of The Garden, Chris Young and television gardener and lecturer, Matt James.As

Our specialist flower photographer Jacky Parker has just had her wonderful 'Rain Bells' image awarded 1st prize in the Plant Portrait category of the prestigous Royal Hoticultural Society Photography Competition. It took the panel of judges two days to decide on the 19 winning photographs in the six competition categories but Jacky's beautiful shot deservedly came through on top. The competition is sponsored by the Medici Gallery in London, where it will be on display in the middle of January 2008 for one week and also in the RHS gardens Wisley spring through to autumn next year. You can find

Jacky Parker lives in Buckinghamshire and discovered her passion for plant and flower photography whilst studying for the Royal Horticultural Societies Diploma in horticulture three years ago. After seeing some of her photographic images we knew she would be perfect for Fotoviva, and we were very happy when she agreed to join the Fotoviva team. She uses a Nikon D200 and macro 105mm lens for close up work and certainly has an eye for that perfect shot. You can find her first picture in our Flower Pictures section. Plenty more of her superb pictures will be uploaded in the coming weeks so p