For a while now, several photographer acquaintances who live outside Indiana had encouraged me to join a local photo club, which they said would motivate me to learn more, see more and shoot more. So a few weeks ago, when I sensed my direction and approach to my photography was stagnating, that's what I did.

The Indy MU Photo Club is a group formed through meetup.com and consists of mostly amateur photographers who take pictures for a creative outlet and are open to learning how to take them better. I imagine -- and hope -- that my association with IMPC will influence the variety and quality of images I post here in the weeks and months ahead.

On Wednesday, the first IMPC outing since I joined the group, we strolled the grounds of the Indianapolis Musuem of Art, a beautifully landscaped property north and west of Downtown Indianapolis that also happens to house the community's premier collection of art. It's also where, on the first Saturday of September, the local Penrod Society holds its annual (and hugely popular) fund-raising arts and crafts fair -- frequently and affectionately nicknamed "Indiana's Nicest Day."

IMA boasts a relatively new addition, one whose architecture is striking enough to warrant appreciation and photographs. It also has stately former residences serving as museums, three developed gardens and a massive fourth under development and scheduled to open this fall. If you noticed, I haven't even said much about what's actually inside the art museum display facilities themselves, but that's for art lovers to explore and discover; our photo group was interested only in what was outdoors, and what that looked like under the creative and selective light of a late-day sun.

An idea of the latter can be found in the accompanying photographs, more of which you can check out at my gallery at Fototime. But as shown by these samples here, the grounds have splendid foliage, flora, architecture, sculpture and a fountain where, if you catch the light just right, you can actually capture a rainbow.