Well, I'm sort of cheating on this post, the 3rd in the series of the G+ Anniversary Photowalk in Adelaide (from the 30th June)... in that I actually went to the Botanic Gardens twice, once on the way to the National Wine Centre, and the second time on the way back from the BBQ (on the way to a birthday party)... So I've sort of thrown them altogether... so apologies if you think something strange has happened...
Now given that's it's very late, and I'd like to get to bed, I've decided that I won't write much today (yeah, I hear you say... or at least you would if you were reading this)... Actually I've written about the Botanic Gardens before (
here in October and then again
here in Nov 2010). It's acutally interesting to look back and compare photos from back then...
In the afternoon, I was blessed with some rather wonderful clouds ... the thunderstorms that had been forecast for earlier in the day never materialised, but they did produce some fantastic skyscapes for photography.
And the Adelaide Centennial Conservatory did the rest... it's a natural photogenic structure... so when in Rome, buy a pizza.
I have to say that I've not been too careful on my processing, and I might come back to these photos to bring out a little more oomph to them. But for the moment, I'm pretty happy with minimum effort (I believe I mentioned before about how lazy I am...).
The glass water sculpture to the south of the Conservatory is also quite an interesting subject matter too....so many different things going on, it's hard to know what to focus on when taking photos here.
And now with just a hint of colour...
But it wasn't all glass and steel... the Botanic Gardens has lots to see. Unfortunately both times I was there, I didn't really get an opportunity to spend much time. So these photos are a little rushed.
One of the problems with a Photowalk is that if you're with someone (I was walking with
+David Fielding in the morning, first time through) it's always difficult to talk, walk AND look for taking photos. Especially if people like taking different sorts of photos. Still, we made our way through the gardens at the time of morning when there was still some beautiful light..
And just enough time to take time to smell the mushrooms.
And on the other scale of plants, there's quite a good cactii garden here too....
And sculpture is very much a part of the Botanic Gardens too.
Ok... I couldn't resist at least one more gratuitous architectural photo.
Did I say one photo? I meant one lot of photos. Actually the Water-lily House is one of the really interesting structures here...
And it's great for exploring glass, reflections, and lines.
It is also normally very good for taking some lovely photos of water lilies as well, but unfortunately the cold, moist air when mixed with the heat from the glass house was instantly covering every glass surface (read: my camera lens) with a sea of condensation. Score one for the power of water.
And speaking of water, and reflections, it's good to find interesting versions of these things... in the strangest of places...
Like the hollowed remnants of an old fallen tree...
Where even death, brings the promise of new life...
But where life itself can take on the strangled frenzy of death and corruption. Actually this photo reminds me of the mangrove swamps down at St Kilda....
And then there's the glorious trees along Plane Tree Drive that runs along the northern boundary of the gardens... the point of all of this... if ever you're in the city on a fine day (or even a not so fine day), check out the Botanic Gardens. There's something interesting here all the time, even in the middle of winter.
