The dahlia, relative of the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, zinnia and aster, is an outrageously beautiful flower that blooms in a rainbow-variety of colors and sizes, ranging from two-inch pompom puffs to splashy 15-inch giants. According to one gardening enthusiast, dahlias “inspire awe and a good cheer.” Adam Neuba, a self-taught photographer from Paderborn, Germany, captured a subdued and yet dramatic vision of a dahlia in his photograph “After Raining”—one of the American Photography Open 2022 entries from June that we feature today.

The contest is open to photographers at any level using any device. There are a number of ways to win. In addition to the Open prizes, our partner SanDisk’s ”Share Your World” competition is open for entries. To enter the SanDisk competition, select the “Share Your World” category and follow the instructions there. The SanDisk entries will also be eligible for the Open prizes so you only have to submit an image once. You can enter both competitions as many times as you wish.

The Open Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000 and prizes from our partner sponsors. Our finalists will also receive prizes from our sponsors, including a Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD (Model F053) for Sony mirrorless $249 value or $150 credit towards any Tamron lens purchase (Note: credit for USA residents only), a SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro SD card and a PhotoShelter 1 year standard account.

The deadline is August 31. Go here for more information on the prizes, judges, and information on how to enter. Meanwhile, check out the highlighted entries from June:
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John Vermette: “Bryce Bridge”

Tucson, AZ-based John Vermette is a retired general contractor with a life-long passion for astronomy and science. “I started my journey into astrophotography in 2010. After building an observatory in our back yard, I spent all clear nights imaging the cosmos,” he notes. “In 2012, I started imaging the night sky with wide-angle field camera lenses to get a much larger field of view than what I could get with most telescopes. Very fast wide-angle lenses make it possible to capture the Milky Way along with the foreground.”

Vermette was visiting Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah in June when he made this photography of the Milky Way against the park’s famous Natural Bridge red rock formation. “I’d been to Bryce many times but somehow had missed this shot. So when we were close this year we had to stop by. I waited a few nights for clear skies.” Vermette shot with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens.

“Although I have no formal education in photography, I feel I have learned much with the help of others and lots of trial and error,” notes Vermette, whose work has been published by Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines.

Seen more of John Vermette’s work at his website.
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Eric Thompson: “Nancy”

“I began shooting as a teenager, then after college entered into assisting and working as a digital tech,” says Eric Thompson. “After a long and incredible career behind the scenes I refocused on shooting, both in fine art and commercial projects.” Originally from Canada and now based in Brooklyn, NY, Thompson says he is currently “reinventing my work and blending the multiple sides of my photography.” His client list includes Pfizer, Amgen, Arctic Cat and Travel Alberta.

The portrait above was made as part of a project Thompson shot for a fashion client in January. “The challenge with this project was to create bright direct sunlight in studio—sharp, warm, and evocative of a Mediterranean summer,” he says. “We shot in a daylight studio in New York City on a very gray and stormy day, so creating believable sunlight in the confines of a smaller space with strobe was not easy.” Thompson shot with a Canon R5 and a 28-70mm 2.0 lens. The image has appeared in online and social-media advertising and on illuminated billboards.

See more of Eric Thompson’s work at his website.
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Adam Neuba: “After Raining”

Adam Neuba, who lives in Paderborn, a city in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state, became “intensively” interested in photography eight years ago. “I started with portrait photography of my children. In the course of time, I discovered my passion for the small and inconspicuous things in our world and specialized in artistic close-up and macro photography,” he says.

You might not necessarily consider dahlias either small or inconspicuous: the flower’s blooms can come in a variety of colors and sizes, ranging up the size of dinner-plates. But Neuba had a vision he wanted to capture—a subdued, painterly photo of a solitary deep-red dahlia. “This idea haunted me for a long time until the opportunity arose after a light rain shower,” he says. The result was the photo above, taken in 2020.

“The challenges lay in optimizing the appropriate light setting and in post-processing. I always work on small projects that I think about myself, plan very precisely and then realize meticulously,” says Neuba, who shot with a Nikon D750 and a Laowa 60mm lens.

See more of Adam Neuba’s work at his website.