Wednesday, June 8, 2011

CHELSEA 2011 REPORT - Part One: "Wow, how'd I get here?"!"

It's been several weeks since this all happened, but it's crazy to think that I actually did what I did: I got to come to England, I got to stay for free with a world-renowned botanist, I met up with a friend I met on Facebook to visit a few gardens and nurseries and, of course, I got to attend THE GREATEST FLOWER SHOW IN THE WORLD! People may argue whether it really is the greatest, but it's certainly the most prominent and being able to attend PRESS DAY, I understood why it has coined that distinction.

It was a bus ride from my professor's apartment to Hammersmith Station on the infamous TUBE and Sloan Square was my stop. Already, evidence that there's a big plant show coming was already quite obvious:

Entrance and Exit from TubeAds everywhere



Getting a PRESS PASS is almost like winning the lottery it seemed like. I was encouraged by colleagues here to TRY and get in during press day to avoid the massive crowds. So, I went to the RHS website for media and press and found an online application which stated my intentions for wanting to come during press day.

Press Pass for press day

A few months later, I was granted accreditation and had to pick up my pass and wristband the day before. Kinda ghetto that we had to write our own name and it wasn't printed on, but oh well. I WAS IN!



Being that it was my first time attending, I took a very early morning bus to get there around 5AM and I followed a few cameramen to the gate to enter the show. Being told that the entrance was not open yet, we were asked to enter through another entrance across the river Thames. Thankful I didn't have much with me (my point-and-shoot digital camera, my write-in-rain notebook and my bookbag with my extra battery, an extra sweater and some snacks to get me through the long day.

I tried to strike up a conversation with the two cameramen I was walking side-by-side with and inquired about their experience with Chelsea. One of those photographers was Clive Nichols, check out his website here, amazing work. He's been around the world photographing plants and gardens and he directed me to which areas to see first, I barely had time to shoot this shot and take a moment to realize that I had finally arrived:

Marquee Front

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