Country Market Garden Centre -- May 19th, 2012

This garden center in Hampton (about 10 miles east) has a few animals for kids to enjoy-- sheep, goats, peacocks & chickens and dogs, but they also have some short walking trails through a Sugar Maple forest behind the center that they invite the public to explore. The Sugar Maples are huge, some well over 60 ft tall.

'Smokey' guards the property.

 

This last week I've been experimenting with a technique I read about. On those occasions when you have to shoot through a chain-link fence, you can make it virtually "disappear" in certain cases.

This dog was in a fenced area with the standard 2" chain-link fencing. I shot through the fence, without putting the lens against the fence... in many cases you can't. I was about 2 ft from the fence.

The Peacock was behind a rectangular-mesh fence. The rectangles were about 2 inches by 5 inches. To shoot him at this angle I had to shoot through the fence at a fairly sharp angle. I think that's why the image is softer on the right-hand side. Even so, the technique works well.

Personally, I've grown tired of perfect-specimen shots of Trilliums, even though I still shoot them-- though not as much as I used to. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that there are 1000s upon 1000s of them in the photo-world already and we keep adding to the number every year. It's a bit like the line, "Do we really need any more shots of the Grand Canyon?"

I've come to prefer the later stage, a bit worn, past their prime, but still beautiful in my eyes. They show more character in later life, just as many humans do.

Some mushrooms near one of the ponds on the property. It looks like they start off brown.

There are lots of Jack-in-the-Pulpits through the woods, many of them larger than the ones I see elsewhere.

The next two shots are of the same plant as the light changed.

I was the only one wandering the paths today-- at least in the hour I was there. It was a quiet escape from the city, and close by.

There were Mayapples, Trout Lilies and a huge owl (Great Horned?) that flew amongst the tall Sugar Maples, though I never had a chance for even a quick shot. It's definitely a spot I'll check out next year in early spring, or maybe this fall, or maybe this summer, or maybe...

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