Seasonal splendor in conservatory display

Every year at this time, the Garfield Park Conservatory in Indianapolis dresses up its atrium and tropical plant exhibit for the holidays with colored lights, poinsettias, a Christmas tree and a model train landscaped with a tunnel and various attractions and scale-size people.

I have a two-year-old grandson who is fascinated with trains (Thomas the Train and all his friends are huge toy favorites), so it seemed appropriate that while my daughter and her children were in town for the holidays, we visit the conservatory and let Maddox get a look at the decorations and train. Of course, my older grandchildren (and Maddox's younger sister, who is 10 months old), got a kick out of it all as well.

On about six days during the almost full-month observance, which the park calls Conservatory Crossing, the conservatory stays open until 8 p.m. (usually it closes at 5 p.m.). A few years back, I remember it referring to the late-hours days as Candlelight Crossing ... or perhaps it referred to just one of those nights, when the conservatory would have cookies and punch available to visitors. At some point thereafter, however, "Candlelight" was dropped from the name. It now goes just by Conservatory Crossing.

In any event, we chose to go Wednesday, one of the late-hours dates, in order to get the full spectacle of the lights and decor.

Maddox was pleased ... and predictably entranced, especially, by the train and its landscaping. I took pictures, and while walking through the tropical plant section, noticed several interesting compositions enhanced by strategic fall of light on various leaves and, in some cases, full plants. Some of those shots are included here.

In a rarity for this blog, I'm not going to bother to compose captions for the individual pictures that appear below. I've pretty much described what this attraction entails in the text above, and there's little to add. Just enjoy the images.

As always, click on any photo to bring up a larger, sharper version. To see a full gallery of shots from the shoot, visit my site at SmugMug.com.

Photo geek stuff: I took all of the photos here with my Canon 6D equipped with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens using shutter priority (1/160) and varying my ISO settings to adapt to differing light availability.

Coming up: Tropical plant photo shoot, meet Indy Star photographers

A couple of events aimed at photographers are coming up in the Indianapolis area and worth noting here.

From 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday, July 13, the Garfield Park Conservatory, 2505 Conservatory Drive, on the Southside of Indianapolis will allow just photographers inside to photograph the climate-controlled greenhouse, which houses an array of tropical plants and a koi pond you would not otherwise see or photograph unrestricted in this area.

The key here is that photographers will be allowed to bring along and use tripods for this shoot only.

This is the third time I know of that the conservatory has done this for photographers. It's a big deal not only because of the opportunity to photograph tropical plants and foliage, but also because tripods ordinarily are not allowed inside the conservatory.

Why are tripods important here? Although the conservatory has glass side windows to allow natural light to pass through, it has an opaque roof, so the natural light illumination is partially restricted, making exposure a critical issue for photographers. Some kind of camera support is necessary most of the time to shoot at those desirable low ISO levels, which in turn require slow shutter speeds; wider apertures could be a variable, too, but with close-up shots, stopping down to f/8 and lower is imperative to ensure inclusive depth of field for the full range of the picture subject, thereby requiring slow shutters, which often renders hand-hold shots dicey if not impossible.

The cost of this shoot is $5; registration is required for this photo opp, and space is limited; they don't want to overbook so as to result in photographers tripping over each other.

To register, call (317) 327-7580 or send an email to gpcons@indy.gov.

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Then from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 19, The Indianapolis Star will host another free "Meet the Photographers" night.

Photographers and the general public will be invited to the sixth floor of the Star building at 307 N. Pennsylvania St. for an evening of conversation discussing techniques and the joy of sports photography and visual journalism.

The Star asks that you RSVP by email to staff photographer Danese Kenon at denese.kenon@indystar.com

I attended the previous "Meet the Photographers" evening in January 2012 and thought it was very well done; others who attended had similar impressions. The evening began with an informal chat with individual staff photographers one on one and was followed by a slide show presentation that included images taken by Star photographer Matt Kryger in the moments after the stage collapsed from a sudden wind torrent during a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair in August 2011 (two photos above).

The 2012 program concluded with a question-and-answer session (above), where photographer Rob Goebel is answering a question, flanked by fellow staff photographers (from left) Danese Kenon, Marc Lebryk, Joe Vitti, Kelly Wilkinson and Matt Detrich.

The upcoming session could be particularly poignant given two recent developments: 1) The Star's impending move out of its longtime headquarters (this could be the only -- or last -- opportunity you'll have to be in the building); 2) the decision by the Chicago Sun Times to lay off its entire photography staff in favor of photo stringers and reporters using phone cameras.

Last look at Dec. 21 shoot in Garfield Park

I know I promised a finale post from my Dec. 21 shoot, but a funny thing happened between the most recent post and today: another snowfall in Central Indiana. And this one was one of those rarities -- the kind where the snow sticks to buildings and tree trunks and branches.

Soooo ... I was out again in Garfield Park on Dec. 29, grabbing even more shots than I had taken just eight days earlier.

I found myself returning to some of the same shots I had taken on the 21st, revisiting shots I'd taken on previous winter scene excursions ... and also making a point to find new compositions. Like I said, I got a bucketload of shots.

But I promised to post a final look at my shots from the Dec. 21, so ... I'll keep my word, toasting the old year with a scaled-back volume of images since I'll be doing posts of the Dec. 29 shoot sometime after the New Year. Leading off the post is a shot of the park's largest shelter, slightly frosted by the previous day's snowfall. The shelter, which is just east of the Garfield Park Arts Center, stands on the site that was home to the park's first municipal pool. The current aquatics center, which opened in tandem with the Burrello Family Center in 1998, is now about 200 yards north of the arts center off Pagoda Drive.

To view a full gallery of shots from the Dec. 21 shoot in Garfield Park, visit my site at SmugMug.

Above: A trio of small boulders lining the path between the Garfield Park Arts Center and the MacAllister Center for the Performing Arts.

Above: The Garfield Park Arts Center, one of several angles I captured on Dec. 21. I went after several others, some new, some reprised, in the Dec. 29 shoot.

Above and below: The MacAllister Center for the Performing Arts (above) and a closeup of the amphitheater's interesting wooden loading access door.

Above: As I joked when I posted a copy of this picture on my Facebook wall, this photo looks close to like I remember Garfield Shakespeare Company performers and spectators felt on several cold September nights of the fall presentation of A Midsummer Night's Dream in this venue.

Above and below: Playground equipment and shelters at the park's north end, along Conservatory Drive.

Above and next two below: Streams are a key element to Garfield Park. These three are shots of Bean Creek, taken at various points along its course in the park. The first below was taken from the bridge just east of the arts center parking lot off Conservatory Drive.

Above: A monochrome conversion of a view of the conservatory and Sunken Garden, framed by the conifers growing along the garden's west perimeter. 

Christmas at Garfield -- Candlelight Crossing

Every year during the month of December, the Garfield Park Conservatory in Indianapolis is decked out in holiday decor, highlighted by displays of poinsettias; trees and plants festooned by thousands of lights; and model trains that pass through miniature towns whose structures and people look to be from another era of time.

In a way, my visit to the conservatory Friday was a trip to another time. I had not been there in the month of December since my children were still small and sang in our church's cherub choir. Back then, the cherub choir would learn a program of seasonal carols and perform a handful of shows at a few places in the community. Some venues for the shows would change from year to year, but one of the static sites was the conservatory, with the colorful poinsettias and holiday decorations serving as a beautiful backdrop.

Near the end of each December, to launch the beginning of extended hours of "Christmas at Garfield," the conservatory throws a special event, "Candlelight Crossing." In addition to providing live harp music and making snacks, cookies and beverages available to visitors, Candlelight Crossing (and the extended hours for the rest of the display's duration) enables you to see these exhibits after dark, where the light displays really stand out -- and beg for photographers to capture it in images.

This year's "Candlelight Crossing" was Friday, and I visited as an outing with members of the photo club I belong to. On this evening, even the condensation on the conservatory windows proved to be of photographic interest. The images you see here are from that trip.

As always, click on a photo to view a larger, sharper version. To see a gallery of all photos from this shoot, visit my site at SmugMug.com.