Tonights image was taken in Bellevue’s Botanical Gardens and as you can probably tell it was a beautiful day, very sunny (hence the shadows) and as I’ve said before, the worse possible conditions for landscape photography.

This area is near the entrance to the gardens and is surrounded by numerous flower beds and lawns.  Of all the images I took out in the open (not shaded by trees) this was the only one I felt justified a posting.

At Christmas, this whole area is covered with fairy lights and is amazing to see.  The pergola is completely lit up and really beautiful, but impossible to photograph as there are hundreds of people walking around and they just get in the way.  I tried one year to photograph Abi and Lisa under the lit up pergola and it was a disaster!  This was the first time I’ve visited the gardens in summer and while it’s very pretty, it’s not as nice as the year end lights.

Ironically I think I missed the real opportunity for capturing the flower beds as most of the flowers now are starting to wilt.  Spring would have been much nicer but I’ll remember next year and go back earlier.

That said the manicured flower beds and hanging baskets are really nice and make me realize just how much I suck at gardening.

Today Master Chief introduced Carter to his new pet!