Arnold Arboretum

One of my favorite places to wander around is the Arnold Arboretum, owned by Harvard University, but located in Jamaica Plain, MA.  It's a beautiful park full of nature, full of animals, full of life.  I enjoy the scenery, the nature, the walk and just being there.  I would suggest going if you ever get a chance.

If you want to learn more about the Arnold Arboretum below is a link to the site.

http://arboretum.harvard.edu/

This place although big is beautiful.  It takes about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other but well worth the walk. 

Below are some pictures I've taken in the park...Enjoy!

While walking through the Arboretum I found a little stream where I wandered and explored up and down looking for a spot to set up my tripod.  I wanted to find a spot where the water flowed over and around rocks to add a little more dynamic effect.  I actually found this spot not even using my tripod I set my camera on a rock with a wood chip underneath one end of it to level it off and took the picture.  I liked how this came out, it became one of my favorites.

Looking up a tree.

Group of trees with sunlight shinning through.

With these two photos I wish I had some artificial light with me to light the that black hole in the left photo and create more light on the ground in the right photo.

I was fooling around with different angles to take the pictures of the stream.  I tilted the camera a little bit and had the shutter open for 2 sec with an f/10 to create this image.  I also wanted to include that yellow leave their to pull your eye in the direction of the water's flow.

This picture was taken a little bit more downstream from the previous pictures.  I tilted the camera to get more of the stream in the picture.  Looking more at this picture I wish I had taken it with something to focus on instead of nothing.

Beginning of path into Arboretum.

Light of the Moon.

As I was walking back to catch the T at Forrest Hills I looked back noticing the light coming from another building illuminating the tree, at least that one side and decided I would take a picture.  It came out better than I thought it would, especially in HDR.

Chinese Path.

I really enjoyed how the composition of this photo came out.  As I was walking down the leave covered path on the partly cloudy day, I wanted to put my camera on the ground to establish a worm's eye view of the path.  I liked the blur of the leave's close-up and the angle of the camera almost promotes a twisting motion that is happening in the middle of the photo.  Can you see it?

Chinese Path.

I walked down the path a little bit more, turned around facing the beginning of the path and took some shots.  I put my camera down on the rock wall to take a picture.  I kept part of the wall in focus and the rest of the picture a little blurry.  The "Man in Black" came out well in the surrounding colors and although is blurry it is the main focus in this photo.

Worm's Eye view of path down toward stream.

Ahhhhh...the Arboretum.  It's a place to get away from the city but stay close.  It's a place to relax and enjoy views atop Peter's Hill.  A place to walk your dog, a place to run, a place to read a book.  Enjoy the nature, be a part of the nature, watch the nature unfold before your eyes.  Be a part of millions of different species of plants and trees.  This all combines into a wonderful experience that is worth the trip.