botanic garden Archives

A Quiet Return…

We explore the stunning autumn beauty of New England and admire the magnificent colors in this photography moment.

It’s been a while since my most recent post, and I figure it’s time to start finding my way back again. There is much to share, so I’ll start gently. As I’ve overcommitted myself to too many hobbies, pastimes, and a bit much on the work side (of life), I’ll be taking baby steps.

During this time, there have been occasional photography forays, so I will start with sharing from those outings. Here’s a bit of “on the ground in front of me”-scape from this past autumn:

Autumn is definitely my favorite time of year, as New England is awash in color, and the vistas can be magnificent. Of course, those colors do come to an end, as leaves drop from their hosts to decorate the ground around us (of course, we do have to clear them, if we want to have a lawn). During a late October stroll around New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, I came across this lovely arrangement of future nutrients for the maple tree around which they lay. Finding an angle to get a composition that I liked was not that hard.

Captured with my Fuji X-H2 with an XF80mm F2.8 macro lens at an aperture of F6.4.

Sunday Serenity

A bit of serenity at Tower Hill Botanic Garden with an eye toward the variations of green colors.

As today was a rather nice day, I decided to spend some time at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in nearby Boylston, Massachusetts. When I went there last week, all of my shooting was in the Infrared part of the spectrum. Today, I went purely for some visible light exploration, as there were many colors of all variety to enjoy.

Here’s one of the images from today’s crop…

If my searching is accurate, this is a rather healthy crop of oregano. I was drawn to the symmetries that are everywhere in this noble herb. Little star-shaped plants, reaching up ever higher as they absorb light, water and nutrients along the way.

A Snowy Sunday Continuation

A bit of experimentation with aspect ratios at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. A lovely cherub in a snowy landscape with a 4:3 ratio.

I hope you’ll forgive me for a brief hiatus from the series of posts about infrared photography with this week’s bit of experimentation. This past Sunday I was looking for a location to try out some slightly different techniques. As it was a lovely day with temperatures peaking above freezing, I went to Tower Hill Botanic Garden. This is always a great location to stimulate the visual senses!

Here’s one of the images that I captured during this outing…

This little cherub and his hen look rather cold in the lovely, snowy landscape of the botanic garden. With the amazing light of this Sunday, he came across rather crisply.

Now, some of you may wonder what the experimental aspect was in all this. The answer is that I spent some time shooting with different aspect rations from the standard 3:2 for 35mm format. The cherub image was captured using a 4:3 aspect ration. Additionally, I took a number of shots with a 65:24 aspect ratio.

You may have noticed that the banner on my blog has received an update. That is one of the images that was shot at 65:24.

I really enjoyed experimenting in this fashion. You can expect to see more in the future, as I get ready for Egypt.

What’s in Color?

Exploring infrared techniques, as seen in the striking image titled “Ethereal Beacon” taken at Tower Hill Botanic Garden.

In some of my past posts I have written about my enjoyment of experimenting with my photography, among which Infrared photography has played and will continue to play a role. In ‘A Thursday Throwback‘ from a couple of weeks ago, I shared an image that I still enjoy in its ethereal black & white looks, which has many greens turn to bright white.

In today’s image, I took a different approach in treating the image…

This shot came about during an infrared photography walk at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. There were a lot of interesting images that came about that day (and I will share more of them in upcoming posts), and this one really stood out among them.

I have a fondness for capturing sunbursts, as they can sometimes produce a striking image. To achieve the desired angle, I positioned myself rather flat on the ground and wiggled into just the right angle to get the Sun placed behind the allium flower. I also had a bit of luck, as it appears that a small element detached itself from the flower to float up into the air a bit.

I’ll put together a series of posts on my infrared experimentation at a later time, as it is a lot of fun to work through the process of visualizing what might be and then post-processing to get the desired and hoped-for results.

iPhone Friday

Two perspectives of a plant: one in color, showcasing its vibrant filaments and leaves, and another in black and white to emphasize its structure. Which do you prefer?

A quick snapshot for today from a visit to New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in nearby Boylston, Massachusetts; this is always a great location to visit to experience the calm surroundings and lovely flora that is managed so expertly by the staff. Visiting always provides me with new source material, as the colors, shapes and environment are inspiring.

Today’s shot is a slightly different perspective from the usual…

The interweaving of the whitish filaments with the leaves radiating out from the center caught my eye. It would have been interesting to shoot this with greater depth of field (iPhone 14 didn’t have that possibility yet). As I was looking at this image, I also took a look at it from just a structural perspective…

The black & white treatment provides more focus on the pure structure of the plant. I’m not sure which one I prefer yet. What are your thoughts?

Tower Hill – A visit to the lights

A quick view of Night Lights at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill

During the post-covid years, my wife and I have made sure that we visit the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill during one of the highlights of their season: Night Lights! During the holiday season, the creative staff at Tower Hill does an amazing job in creating a lights display that is a feast for the senses.

Night Lights are a Feast for the Senses!

Artful approaches to lighting trees, shrubbery and placing a number of strategic gnomes to keep an eye on proceedings, they are everywhere. Colors show up in many locations and angles of lighting of the trees create for opportunities of both discovering new structure and seeing into arboreal soul…

Some of our visits in past years have been on evenings that were bitterly cold, and being atop Tower Hill was a challenge during those times; this year, the weather was perfect with only a light breeze and pleasant November temperature. Walking along the rainbow path was particularly stimulating and refreshing…

A great big thank you to the staff at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill for creating yet another stunning display! I will share more photos in upcoming posts.

One additional note: this time around I took all the photos with my new iPhone 16 Pro Max. I set the camera to Raw Max mode and use the Night setting; this produces some spectacularly large files in DNG format, which are well worth the storage space, as I’m impressed with the quality produced. My edits were minimal with a little bit of sharpening and contrast/exposure adjustment. More experiments will follow!

Winter Reimagined at Tower Hill

Thursday night, my wife and I went to visit Tower Hill Botanic Garden to see their current exhibit ‘Winter Reimagined’. The Botanic Garden is always among our favorite places to visit, as it affords wonderful strolling along the many paths among the trees or through the systematic garden. Winter is typically an indoor season for Tower Hill, as lush trees and plants grow in the conservatories, where the climate is in the subtropical range.

However, this Winter visit, we spent our time mostly outdoors.

The trees and paths have been decorated expertly by the staff to present night vistas that are a feast for the eyes. A variety of colors play together to create interest from just about any angle.

The courtyard provided an opportunity for families to roast some marshmallows over a fire tended by staff; this little touch of atmosphere amidst the conservatories definitely adds a lovely seasonal feeling, that harkened of times past (where’s Dickens?).