Garden – Page 2 – Decaseconds

Rose Garden and Fountain in Portland

2014-Dec-03 adohertyh1 Comment

Rose gardens are more frequently Brendan’s purview on this blog (check out this post, or this one), but my visit to Portland, Oregon this summer gave me the chance to shoot some rose gardens of my own. The dramatic sky, the far-off pavilion, the spouting fountain, the acres of roses, and the mis-matched ramp and stairs at the edges of the picture: Peninsula Park Rose Garden hits all the right fairy tale notes. I was lucky to be able to capture it at just the right heavy summer moment—though I have to wonder how it would look in the fuzzy first moments of sunrise, too.

Portland Koi

2014-Oct-08 adohertyh2 Comments

A photograph should “work,” should have meaning, in isolation. I suppose that really means that it should work without any context other than shared culture. Without my words, you can know that this is a Japanese Garden (though perhaps not in Oregon), know that it’s an artificial simulacrum of some elegant natural setting—but can the sense of calm in being in that place be conveyed by the image? (I suspect that this aspect might be the easiest to convey.)

PNW Zen

2014-Sep-22 adohertyh2 Comments

I photographed a zen garden in the Northeast, and now I’ve photographed this one in the Northwest, as well. The Portland Japanese Garden and its spectrum of gold-through-green-to-blue conveys its own “calm drama” in a way much separated from the North Country equivalent.

Watching the Koi

2014-Aug-272023-Sep-29 adohertyhLeave a comment

A peaceful, easy moment.

Snow-Stone-Zen

2014-Jan-13 adohertyh4 Comments

Taking a temporary aside from Africa (and the warm/rainy weather of weird northern New York), here’s an image from the Zen garden just after the most recent blizzard. I haven’t done much work in black and white photography since high school, but this was a case of contrasting textures and tones that just demanded it. The rough, dark brick and stone dressed by puffy snow seemed poetic almost to the point of (again) cliché—so I went with it.

Snow in the Zen Garden

2013-Dec-16 adohertyh2 Comments

A “casual blizzard” hit the North Country this weekend, and after I excavated around the house, I went exploring. St. Lawrence’s Zen garden was looking particularly peaceful under its (pardon the cliché) blanket of snow. The tiny structures seem to amplify the effect.

Tea House Roof

2013-Sep-11 adohertyh2 Comments

In the quiet of Nitobe Memorial Garden, I was struck by the craftsmanship of this teahouse. Even the roof had such gorgeous structure, with the wood lit by ambient light reflected from the water and the foliage.

Nitobe Tree

2013-Aug-26 adohertyh2 Comments

While I’m on the trend of remembering summers past (and mourning the end of our own summer), I’m also going to reminisce about our trip to the University of British Columbia’s Nitobe Memorial Garden last summer. Look at that lushness. Foliage everywhere. And, as I like to joking call it, the “enormous bonsai tree” framing the soft scene.

Roses are, well… sort of pink

2013-May-28 emceehammr1 Comment

Nestled away in the hills of Berkeley is the spectacular UC Botanical Garden. It contains a truly impressive collection of plants from around the world and is host to a wide variety of other critters. It turns out to be a very nice place to spend an afternoon (and I’ll definitely have to come back, I don’t think I caught everything!) to boot! This shot is from their collection of old roses.

Fairbanks Barn

2013-Apr-19 adohertyhLeave a comment

A barn in the Northeast is a place of shelter and respite from frost and storms and snow. In the gorgeous Southwest, on the other hand, the barn is a gorgeous, open place with palm trees and big stalls.

Water Lillies

2013-Apr-112013-Apr-09 emceehammrLeave a comment

Another shot from UBC’s Nitobe memorial garden, this time of water lilies floating serenely on the surface of one of the pools. The arrangement of the leaves above the surface of leaves really does give the impression that every leaf, every petal on each flower has been hand placed for a specific effect.

The Turtle

2013-Mar-19 emceehammrLeave a comment

At the center of the Nitobe Memorial Garden lies a peaceful pool filled with Koi, and in the middle of that pool lies the “Island of Eternity,” a small island in the shape of a turtle, pictured here.

Japanese Garden Fence

2013-Mar-042013-Mar-04 adohertyh1 Comment

In the already quiet and calming Nitobe Memorial Garden, this particular corner is the quietest and most calming of them all. At the back of the garden, where few other visitors go, is this tiny fenced-off area. Though this yard is actually adjacent to the ceremonial tea house, I much prefer imagining that an elderly couple lives here, and will be out to tend the garden shortly.

Dappled Bridge

2013-Feb-252013-Feb-25 adohertyh2 Comments

A quiet afternoon in the University of British Columbia’s Nitobe Memorial Garden: every path and blade of grass groomed to perfection, the sun wriggles between the leaves to dapple this narrow bridge over a lily pond. Dragonflies dart among the reeds, and the camera captures a perfect moment in time.

Kami’s Rock

2012-Sep-102012-Sep-09 adohertyh1 Comment

An enormous, moss-covered stone mediates the meeting between pathway and stream, deep within the Nitobe Memorial Gardens at the University of British Columbia. Though the calm pond and the massive entrance have given a broader idea of the Gardens’ feel, I really like the calmer, more compact corners. These little areas seem like the perfect place for a kami to live.