Tag: garden
After leaving Williamsburg, we decided to make a stop at the Norfolk Botanical Garden and make use of the Reciprocal Admission Program. This is a huge garden that even has a river and offers boat tours as another way to experience the landscape. We decided to take the tram around the garden to get an overview everything they have to offer. The botanical garden is home to approximately 250 Crapemyrtle Trees, which is the official tree of Norfolk. They also have a rose garden made up of over 3000 rose plants (which you will see on this week’s Wordless Wednesday). For more information about the gardens, visit NorfolkBotanicalGarden.org.
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back next week as we arrive in the Outer Banks and visit the Wright Brother’s Memorial. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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Next weekend is the start of the annual Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan. The Tulip Festival was recently voted the Best Flower Festival by USA Today readers. It beat the Rose Parade, seriously. We went last year and it was a little too crowded for my taste (I never would’ve been able to get a shot like this because people would’ve been in it). With the warmer weather we’ve had this spring, everything seems to be blooming about 2 weeks early, so it seemed this past weekend would be a great time to visit. Of course, we decided to go on Sunday and it rained all day. I can’t complain, though because it led to some really great water droplet photos! And the rain kept the fair weather tourists out. Of course, the down side to touring a garden in the rain is muddy shoes and it made it tricky to get the angles I wanted.
At Windmill Island Gardens we got a break from the rain and toured the authentic Dutch windmill (not pictured). The thing that is crazy about the windmill is that it is a working flour mill run by the only non- Dutch Dutch Certified miller. Not to mention the fact that this windmill is over 150 years old and was the last windmill to leave the Netherlands. We bought some of the whole wheat flour that they mill there and I am excited to make some pancakes next weekend.
Thanks for stopping by! For more information on Tulip Time and Windmill Island Gardens visit Holland.org. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.
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I saw recently that the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan was just rated the #1 flower festival in the US by USA Today readers. This was the second year that I made the trek over to Holland to see the blossoms and it really is beautiful! To see tulips of all colors, lined up in rows really is a sight to behold! The festival is over now, but if you are planning a visit for next year, I highly recommend Windmill Island Gardens. One thing to note, it gets very crowded during the Tulip Festival. If possible, plan your trip before the festival starts to get the gardens to yourself!
About the Photo:
If you are into photography at all you have probably heard about the importance of lighting. In the middle of the day on a sunny day, the sun is directly overhead and it casts harsh shadows. I’ll be honest, I’ve heard this over and over again and I tried to obey it but I never really understood what it meant. Well, looking at my Tulip Festival pictures, I finally understand. You can see the uneven shadows on that white tulip. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it. All rules are meant to be broken sometimes, and I think the shadows add something interesting to the image. Below, I’ve posted a photo from my visit last year when it was overcast and lightly raining. It doesn’t look as bright as the above photo (a flash would’ve helped with that), but the cloud cover provided nice, even light. The water droplets don’t hurt either.
Camera Gear (for both photos):
Nikon D3100 with 8.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens handheld
Date Taken:
Top: May 8, 2016
Bottom: May 10, 2015
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! Visit TulipTime.com to plan your Tulip Festival visit!
Every spring, butterflies abound at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids! I’ve always wanted to visit during Butterflies are Blooming! In the caterpillar room, you can see caterpillars crawling and forming their chrysalides. Then, walk into the tropical greenhouse where 50 different species of butterflies soar high and stop on the flowers for a quick drink. You could see Monarchs, Golden Birdwings, and Common Morpho who is tan on the outside and bright blue on the inside. In the gardens, the flowers weren’t yet blooming, but it was a good time to explore the sculptures without the heat and the crowds.
About the Photo:
Shooting butterflies is a great learning experience for photographers. If you want to learn to shoot in manual, small, fast moving subjects are a great way to learn! A zoom lens with fast shutter speeds and high ISO are needed to freeze the motion and capture the tiniest details. This was a single RAW exposure, with basic edits done in Lightroom. This was shot at ISO 3200, which with my entry-level DSLR is quite noisy, so I did a lot of noise reduction as well.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens handheld.
Date Taken:
March 28, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!
