National Gardening Week 2017 saw some ideal weather for the green-fingered amongst us. Whether you are a seasoned or newly inspired gardener, it was the perfect time to get out into the sunshine with the family and set the scene for summer with colourful new blooms.

Trying to create a bright and blossoming garden space can be especially challenging in an urban environment, particularly if your scope is physically more limited than you would like. That’s why allotments are the perfect solution!

Going green

For those lucky enough to get an allotment – they can be quite hard to come by in some areas – why not take some snaps of the process from planting seeds to marvelling at your first crops? You can work on the finer details of the vegetables and the soil, creating beautiful images that show off your hard work and produce.

Garden-inspired photography looks great in canvas print form, especially in the kitchen. Think fresh produce just pulled from the earth, or a trowel digging into the rich brown soil, both flying the flag for self-sufficiency.

There’s also nothing better than sitting down to eat the food you have grown yourself – another note-worthy photography moment! Check out our post on the best food photographers to follow on Instagram for inspiration.

A family affair

If you did manage to get out in the sunshine with the family this past week, or you are planning to, be sure to get some candid shots of everyone hard at work. Whether digging the soil, watering the vegetable patches or mopping their brow in the midday heat (we can always hope for good weather…), there’s so much to capture with your camera.

Being at the allotment affords many opportunities to capture lifestyle photography at its best. The hard work, getting your hands dirty, and, of course, some tom foolery thrown into the mix! Try to be a 'fly on the wall' so you can capture some real images of allotment life.

Lay of the land

Landscape photography goes hand-in-hand with allotments too. If you can get to higher ground, take a photo of the patches of land and greenhouses – all different in their own way, displaying the pride of each gardener.

Sunrises and sunsets will look magnificent on the allotment, allowing you to play around with the light you have and to evoke the feeling of your crops waking up and going to sleep in your snaps.

Also, if you would like to chronicle your journey from allotment novice to being inundated in radishes, you can also have a play about with time-lapse photography. Superb for displaying your beautiful images in sequence of time.

Be sure to read our post on garden canvas prints that look good enough to eat.