Lily Pond

Botanic gardens (which you can find almost anywhere) are great locations for flower photography, however landscape photographers can find ideal subjects for their work there as well. Botanic or botanical gardens display its flowers and plants in their natural habitats, thus creating multiple unique gardens in one location. Garden visitors can travel from a lily pond scene to a sparse desert landscape in just a few steps.

In my photography course in college, we had to create for our final project a series of images connected by a single theme. Since I loved photographing natural landscapes, I chose landscapes as my theme. However, I didn't have the time to travel to multiple locations to photograph five completely different scenes. My solution? I made one trip to The Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, which features 14 different themed gardens. I was able to complete my entire class assignment in one afternoon and enjoyed the beauty and versatility of botanic gardens.

Creepy Cactus

Golden Rat Tail Cactus is pretty creepy-looking in person. It is native to South America and the United States Botanic Garden displays a specimen of it. I'm not fond of insects, so anything that has insect-like qualities is disturbing. Since this cactus appears like tentacles crawling along the ground, I'm not a fan. However, it does make an interesting subject for photographs.

Inducing Happiness

Aren't these cheery flowers? I feel so happy when I look at them. I took this photograph at the United States Botanic Gardens near the U.S. Capitol several years ago. Now, it happily hangs on my wall in my apartment.

While we often photograph subjects that inspire us or intrigue us or even sadden us, we should also take photos of things that just make us happy. Those happiness-inducing images could be of people we love, but it could also be places or things that bring us joy as well. Yesterday on my way to work, I saw the most beautiful sunrise and it filled my heart with great joy. I'm still kicking myself that I did not have my camera with me to capture it for later viewings.