The Bo-Tan

Last Monday, dma and I headed to one of the best little places in Bellevue... the Botanical Gardens. True, it isn't a rugged ridgeline or a majestic meadow, but it is a sweet little oasis that is perfect for an evening stroll. An evening stroll with a ton of gigantic mosquitos. yikesapie! In between karate chops in the air, I managed to capture a few random blooms. Enjoy!

The vibrant pink & purple combo caught my eye, and I loved the design of the stem, too.

of course, I converted it to black & white. Its like an addiction.

There were some wee little iris' growing near the path. I loved the design of the inner petals; they reminded me of butterfly wings. So very pretty, yes? The first picture is pretty much as shot; I made some minor sharpening/contrast/saturation adjustments, but that's all folks. I couldn't decide whether I liked the tension of all the gray space above the iris, so I cropped in and saved it under a different file. Then, of course, you guessed it, I converted the cropped pic to black & white.

Allergism

I took this pick to remember a "dare" (wasn't really a dare, more of a suggestion for the gullible...)

Lily

I visited the Bo-Tan last year and spent some time in the Japanese patio area reflecting on some major life changes. I intentionally didn't bring my camera that day; I needed to recharge without the distraction of an activity. The lillies were so beautiful, though, that I gave in and took a picture with my camera phone. It captured the moment at the time, but I've been wanting a "real" picture, too. The one below still isn't quite what I had in mind, but dang, the mosquitos were particularly fierce in that area, so I had to jet out of there.

Last Look

In true "last look" form, I snapped these two pics as we were headed back to Spydo. It was a good thing, too, because dma noticed a rather unique bird in the area, so we both had captivating subjects. I loved the organized chaos of this flower. Its funky.

Per usual, I took a bunch of pictures of the same thing (gotta love digital memory!) and eventually took a picture from an abstract viewpoint. I kinda like it.

I am happy with this group of pics from the Bo-Tan, my first set of summer flowers, too! I hope that the beautiful weather is treating you well & thank you for taking a look at my pics & reading through all my overly long descriptions! Peace be with you...