NY Botanical Gardens

I took the train into the Bronx on Sunday to meet up with family. We went down to the Botanical Gardens where I pretty much went crazy with my macro lens on flower pictures. My brother and sister-in-law wanted to give friends a framed photo as a wedding present, so they asked me to take some shots. While I'm not particularly fond of landscape photography, I can take close ups of flowers all day long. I can't get enough of the colors and bokeh.

First, a shot of Hannah getting strapped into her stroller.

This iris is from the flowers native to the area section of the Botans.

Grace was decked out with plenty of bracelets and necklaces.

I wanted to do some HDR shots to really make the colors pop, but I didn't feel like lugging around a tripod. This was the only shot of the day where the wind wasn't blowing the flowers my hands were steady enough.

A couple of playful chipmunks were chasing each other and nearly ran me over. 

I brought along the fish eye lens for some variety and took this goofy shot of Grace.

This was also shot with the fish eye lens and I cropped out the corners where things were really starting to bend.

I couldn't pass by the fern; you know how much I love green!

A nice little dogwood flower.

There were a ton of different azaleas in bloom.

I also dug the curves on the hostas.

I believe these are called firecracker plants, but don't hold me to it. 

The peonies were gigantic and gorgeous.

I found another batch of firecracker plants and changed it up with the fish eye.

I think this is my favorite color wise from the day.

I tend to navigate towards the smaller flowers. I have no idea what either of these shots are, but I thought that the squares were really cool. 

That's what the flowers look like before they bloom.

A couple more shots of Grace outside the entrance to the Everett Children Garden. I had to get her to stop in front of all the colorful ribbons. 

That pose, though, I don't know where she comes up with them!

If anyone is up on their botany and knows what some of these flowers are, feel free to leave me a comment! All in all, I'm crazy about the shots and had a great time with the family.