Four Hours and a Camera

 

Note:This slide show is best viewed Full Screen--click the double window on the task bar above and beside the words "Make a PhotoShow".

 
This is a photoshow that I put together from pictures that I took on a visit to Longwood Gardens last weekend.
I first visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1967 and took along a small box camera which greatly frustrated me. I still go to roam the gardens often and there is always the constant camera (with many updated models later)  that frustrates me because I want pictures that make me want to jump inside and live in them. It is such a privilege to live so near this treasure of nature, we visit often and take many, many pictures. Then we want bigger and better cameras. 

The gardens make a great subject so I can work on lighting and shutter speed and composition. I think I need an SLR with 18 plus megapixels. My little 12 megapixel Nikon fits nicely in a purse, but has limitations. I'm still learning and the greatest challenge to me is to hold a camera still and half depress the button to take a picture so I can see if the camera will focus properly before continuing to take the picture. The professionals get a tripod permit but I dislike taking that much equipment. I'm visiting to enjoy the scenery as well as to take a few photos. So I compensate by leaning on the nearest tree.

The gardens have a great variety of lighting situations which challenge a photographer to try to coax the best result from any camera. Beyond the challenges of the camera itself, photography composition takes great artistic talent that doesn't seem part of my practical nature. I recently saw a photo of a row of white orchids taken on a white background and the purple markings in the center leaped off the photograph. I would never have imagined a white background to have been so effective. Composition is a great challenge to the non-artists. I love flowers so any picture of a flower in focus makes me happy.