The Creative Push
Sometimes to get into the creative full, you need a creative push. This season has been exceptionally busy with so many things going on with work and family I just haven’t had much time to get out and take pictures — or just being creative.
That’s why I decided to give myself a creative push today and get out to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. I haven’t been there in years and one of the best things about being a member at The Morton Arboretum is that your entry is covered at other conservatories and gardens throughout the US, including the Chicago Botanical Gardens (where you just have to pay for parking - but entry is covered).
The Corpse Flower
I didn’t even get a map when I walked in here, I just wanted to wander. They had signs up to see the Corpse Flower and immediately that’s where I went. Alice is her name, and she is about one week away from blooming. They take an average of 7 to 10 years to bloom, and once it blooms it lasts anywhere from 24 hours to 3 days. Such a short moment in time.
Tiny Details
There are so many tiny details all throughout the Chicago Botanical Gardens. I honestly felt ill-equiped to photograph it because all I brought was my 50mm and a film camera. I really wanted to capture more of these details with my 60mm or 28-300mm but you have to work with what you have, and the whole purpose of getting out today was to re-ignite that spark. And honestly, it just left me hungry to come back.
The Desert is Always a Treat
Temperature wise it was in the high 80s degree with a good amount of humidity. It felt very strange walking into this desert room from total humidity to almost no humidity. It was a dry hot escape.
When I walk into a space like this I am always so captivated by all of the details and textures. There is nothing else like it. It try to focus on those details and how light and shadow interacts with the subject.
Because I came here on the weekend — and at noon at that, it was difficult to find a moment where no one was in this space. But I did find that moment, and I love to look back at it the depth of this space compared to those details, it just puts everything into context looking back at it.
This is where apart of me really wishes I had that 60mm. But I’m really happy with the way these turned out with the 50mm. The main difference between the 60mm and the 50mm is the 60mm allows you to really get closer to the subject when you are looking for that perfect composotion.
With the 50mm, I had to step back more and think about it differently before I found something that I knew would work, and it worked out beautifully especially with these black and whites.
Color is a totally different subject here, and I appreciate that.
Around the World
I love how the Chicago Botanical Gardens really brings in cultures from around the world into this space, from the English Garden to the Japanese Garden, it just takes you to a different space, its a visual treat.
While I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures today, the idea was just to get out and create that creative push so that it could turn into a creative flow. Sometimes life just pushes against you, and if you don’t create the time even if it is just for an hour or two, then you are not putting in the time that your creative muscle needs to succeed.
I love how these turned out today. I love that I am hungry to get out there to shoot more, and I love that I made the best of what I had. Because we need that friction to light the spark sometimes.
I hope this inspires you just to get out, try something new, go to that place that’s been on your mind, and just give yourself some grace to create just because.