ABOUT  THE  WEBSITE
In the spring of 1996, the Orchid Photo Page began as a simple exercise in html, to provide a small gallery of some photos I had taken of our orchids, and a few AOS award photos. Although I had done some AOS award photography for local shows, it was not until the West Palm Beach judging center opened in April, 1992 that I saw a steady stream of high quality orchids. The early images here were from slides scanned to Kodak photoCD which provided easy digital content, though of somewhat spotty quality. I bought my first digital camera in 1997 (an Olympus with about .75mp resolution), but it was not much use for shooting orchids. The following year I bought a Kodak DC260 with a whopping 1.5megapixels which was eminently serviceable for taking studio photos of orchids - it even allowed me to plug in my studio lights! That was a fun camera and had enough features to be a photographic tool. I upgrade digital cameras as their evolution warrants it. Not only has the quality of digicams improved by lightyears, so has post-camera image processing.

In September 2007, after eleven and a half years updating html pages by hand, I made a major design overhaul to The Orchid Photo Page that allows for easier updates. Now in its seventeenth year, new photos are added every week.

ABOUT  THE  PHOTOGRAPHER
Greg Allikas is known the world over for his brilliant photographs of orchids. His extensive knowledge of his subject and artistic background offer a unique interpretation that is both accurate, and stunningly beautiful. Greg has been a commercial photographer in the Palm Beaches and is well known for his library of theater photography. An orchid grower since 1970, Allikas is awards photographer for the AOS West Palm Beach Judging Center, Florida-Caribbean Judging Center in Miami, and many annual South Florida orchid shows including Ft. Lauderdale, Delray Beach, Deerfield Beach, Naples, Boca Raton and the Tamiami and Redland Orchid Festivals. His photos are regularly seen in numerous AOS publications including the annual calendar and the AQ+ and Orchids magazine. He has written articles for both Orchids magazine and Orchid Digest and has been published in Germany, South America, Sweden and in the Russian magazine, World of Orchids. Greg also has many photos in the latest editions of the Sunset and Ortho books on orchids and supplied all of the photography for Growing Orchids is Fun (Hollingsworth), Orchids to Know and Grow (Sheehan & Black), and Orquideas en la Gran Ciudad (Verdura). The book Orchids (Thunder Bay Press, 2000), co-authored with Ned Nash, featured over 200 of his photos. In  2005, Thunder Bay Press published a second Allikas-Nash book, The World's Most Beautiful Orchids which features over 500 photographs and 450 pages of text. A third Allikas-Nash collaboration, Four Seasons of Orchids. published by Creative Homeowner is now in its second edition. This highly-reviewed 256-page book features more culture information than the previous two volumes and deals with culture from a seasonal approach. Greg's most recent collaboration is The Orchid Whisperer written by colorful San Francisco orchidist, Bruce Rogers. This guide to growing orchids is sure to be a hit.

In  2005 Allikas was honored to consult on, and supply photography for a United Nations Postal Administration endangered species stamp release featuring 12 endangered orchid species. He is the recipient of the Silver Medal from the American Orchid Society for his service. Greg is a popular speaker and in demand at orchid societies across the U.S.

He especially enjoys field trips to photograph orchids in their native habitats and rarely turns down an invitation to see and photograph orchids growing in the wild.