(English) Gardens

[Letrow]

My wife is a garden fan. I like them, but I am not as fanatic about visiting them as she is. They do provide me with nice photo opportunities though, so since I started doing macro photographs I have been a lot more enthusiastic about accompanying her.

In this thread I'll show some pictures I shot in Sussex.

Feel free to add your own photographs of gardens. I called it '(English) gardens', because England has a lot of professionally maintained gardens (and great gardening TV shows), but of course gardens from all over the world are interesting and beautiful.

[Letrow]

First of all something that may not look like much of a garden at all to some. It was conceived by Derek Jarman. I quoted a few lines from Wikipedia to explain what he did (Wikipedia does a better job than I in this case).

"Jarman is also remembered for his famous shingle cottage-garden, created in the latter years of his life, in the shadow of Dungeness nuclear power station. The house was built in tarred timber. Raised wooden text on the side of the cottage is the first stanza and the last five lines of the last stanza of John Donne's poem, The Sun Rising. The cottage's beach garden was made using local materials and has been the subject of several books."



Personally I feel that this garden is best visited on a bleak day. If you stand in front of the house, with that power plant looming in the background, it gives you just the right atmosphere.



The last photo (below) is not part of the garden, but it is the seaview from his front garden. All the houses in this small village look like his (but without the gardens), small, tarred, not that beautiful. The contrast with nature is great though.

[Letrow]

The photos below are from a visit to Great Dixter. Normally, when doing flowers, I do macro. My wife complained about this, as she wanted an overview of the garden as a whole as well. So, I went to the other extreme and used the 12mm lens for these.







This was fun as well, because with that wideangle lens you can get pretty close to your flowers in the foreground (less than 5 cm I guess) and still get a sharp background in most cases.

[arith]

Here is some pink flowers; not as same as your of course.

[nickjohnson]

Hello Peter,
Gardens – great idea! I take loads of garden and plant pictures. I find both difficult subjects – much more difficult than landscapes. Gardens in particular are difficult since the opening hours typically do not include early morning / late evening – good light. Oh well.

Under are two images of Exbury gardens – taken in autumn.

Regards,

Nick.

[rob marshall]

Peter

I've been to both of these gardens (a long time ago), and they left a lasting impression on me. Christopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter is the quintessential English garden, although sadly he has now passed away. My wife and I first heard of Derek Jarman's garden when we went to a talk given by him in Cambridge in 1993. I seem to recall that his garden had a lot more 'objects' in it when we visited, which was just after he died. Sorry for the poor quality of the shot, but it was taken a long time ago on film. You can see the wording of Donne's poem written on the side of the wall.

I love your shots of Great Dixter. the wide angle treatment works well.

[Letrow]

Peter

I've been to both of these gardens (a long time ago), and they left a lasting impression on me. Christopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter is the quintessential English garden, although sadly he has now passed away. My wife and I first heard of Derek Jarman's garden when we went to a talk given by him in Cambridge in 1993. I seem to recall that his garden had a lot more 'objects' in it when we visited, which was just after he died. Sorry for the poor quality of the shot, but it was taken a long time ago on film. You can see the wording of Donne's poem written on the side of the wall.

I love your shots of Great Dixter. the wide angle treatment works well.

Thanks Rob. We liked the new head gardener at Great Dixter. He already worked under Mr. Lloyd and has continued after Lloyd passed away. I should have photographed that poem, but it gives me a reason to return I guess.

[Letrow]

A few more of Dixter (I have got quite a lot)

[Letrow]

[Letrow]

I like the colours in these Nick, we don't get that kind of red around here (in the Netherlands) I think

[nickjohnson]

Peter,
I'm enjoying the Dixter images – especially the ones that show glimpses of the house. Good job of working around the rather harsh midday light too. Under is a picture of one of the many small man made streams at Motisfont Abbey – here in south Hampshire UK.

Regards,

Nick.

[rob marshall]

Peter

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main...e/w-stourhead/

I bet you missed this one. Stourhead Gardens is south Wiltshire. It's a very fine National Trust garden, and well worth a visit. There's some poetry with this one too, by Alexander Pope. It's inscribed on the water pool of the grotto, not far from where I was standing to take this shot.

Nymph of the Grot these sacred springs I keep,
And to the murmur of these waters sleep;
Ah! Spare my slumbers, gently tread the cave,
And drink in silence, or in silence lave.

That's not a typo. Lave is an old word for wash.

Better viewed in Lightbox.

[Letrow]

Peter

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main...e/w-stourhead/

I bet you missed this one. Stourhead Gardens is south Wiltshire. It's a very fine National Trust garden, and well worth a visit. There's some poetry with this one too, by Alexander Pope. It's inscribed on the water pool of the grotto, not far from where I was standing to take this shot.



That's not a typo. Lave is an old word for wash.

Better viewed in Lightbox.

Yes, that one I missed. Looks huge. I like the reflections in this one very much...majestic landscape

[Letrow]

These are from Michelham Priory garden in Hailsham. It was new to us, but well worth a visit.

[Letrow]

Michelham Priory in Hailsham...beautiful garden to visit


Great Dixter (again)

[Letrow]

I like seeing statues in gardens, it gives them a certain respectability (I am not talking garden gnomes of course, although they can be fun as well (but not respectable)).




These are all from Michelham Priory

The first one, the leopard (?), my wife leaned on it and it nearly fell over. I was able to shoot her in that surprised and frightened stance, but I am not supposed to share it

[Katy Noelle]

I'm enjoying seeing the photos of the priory, Peter, very much!

[Letrow]

I'm enjoying seeing the photos of the priory, Peter, very much!

Thanks Katy. I am struggling with the fact though that I like making macros a lot more. But it is fun to use the other lenses for flower photography. So far, the ones I like best, are the ones shot with the 12mm lens.

[Katy Noelle]

New York City Botanical Gardens in the Azalea Garden

Best viewed in the lightbox, I think. Thanks!

#1



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#4



The colors were so intense, I keep going back to repost process them. They seem a little bit dark, maybe, but I don't want to blow the colors out. What do you think?

[Letrow]

New York City Botanical Gardens in the Azalea Garden

Best viewed in the lightbox, I think. Thanks!

#1



#2



#3



#4



The colors were so intense, I keep going back to repost process them. They seem a little bit dark, maybe, but I don't want to blow the colors out. What do you think?

I am not sure what you mean by dark. The colours seem good to me and the details in the darker parts can be seen clearly.
I like the colour in the second one especially (that is foliage probably), it almost looks like autumn to me tbh. I am actually wearing a shirt of that colour today and we were discussing what to call it...dark orange, terra? I bought it in the US this week, the dollar is so weak and it was sales at Macy, so this was so cheap for me ;-).
If you are in doubt about the colours you could try hue saturation, to see if that brings them out even more.