Blake's Garden, a feel-good place for children and their families

Blake's Garden was a project under development in my last days in Indianapolis in 2017, and it opened just a month before I moved to Raleigh. Each time I returned to Garfield Park in my sundry visits to family in Indianapolis, I've looked in on Blake's Garden, and each time it was closed. 

Until my recent visit last month. I lucked out, and the images you see here are from that visit. The story of Blake's Garden can be found by following the link in this sentence. How "interactive" is the garden? Well, the photo leading off the post is a chicken coop. Is that a good enough example? 

I will say that I met Mark Bowell, Blake's father, eight years ago or so. We met at the former Garfield Cafe & Eatery during the cafe's short lifespan on Shelby Street, a block south of Garfield Park, and talked about the park's photography policy in the Sunken Garden.

Mark listened intently, and I found him to be personable and genuine. I'd seen him a couple times in the park hosting the former "America, We Remember" observances during or near the Fourth of July holiday. So I felt sad for him when I learned about Blake's story. I hope you give it a look/see.

To view a larger and sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog from a mobile device. To see a full gallery of images from this shoot, follow the link in this sentence. 

   

Garfield Park's Sunken Garden, 2022

One of the things I enjoyed doing in my latter years living a half-block from Garfield Park for so many years was photo-documenting the annual floral displays in the park's Sunken Garden.

When I was in Indy last month, I swung by the Sunken Garden, and wouldn't you know it ... access was blocked because of some kind of excavation work going on inside the garden.

So if the qualify of the iPhone 13 Pro images you see in this post strike you as underwhelming (and most of them are), it's because they all were shot from outside the garden fences. Certainly not ideal, but I knew I'd not get another chance yet this year. 

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on it. This is particularly helpful if you are accessing the block from a mobile device. To view a full gallery of images from this shoot, click on the link in this sentence. 

Tomorrow I'll present images that I took the same day in Blake's Garden, which is small development adjacent to the nearby conservatory (seen in the first picture below) and an enhanced version of the former children's garden that used to be on the site. Blake's Garden is designed as an interactive experience for children and families.  

 

Return to Yates Mill Pond Park

 Spent a lot of time on the road and in the air in the past month, mostly for reasons I'll characterized as unplanned or family-related. I felt a little naked throughout because I elected to leave at home my DSLR and the bag containing my flash unit and almost all my lenses. 

Yes, I did all photography with my new iPhone 13 Pro, and I must say that with only a few exceptions, I was quite pleased with the results. With the DSLR, I'd have been able to use the exposure bracketing to work in high-dynamic range (HDR) processing in a way I'm usually accustomed to doing. 

I could still dabble with HDR with images taken on my iPhone, but I'd have to approach it different. But the huge advantages of using the iPhone were convenience, a lack of intrusion and the immediacy of both editing and uploading to galleries at my site on SmugMug.

I even used the iPhone the other day when I made my second visit to Yates Mill Pond, a county park about 5.6 miles from my home in Raleigh. During my first visit there five years ago, I used my Canon 6D for my photographs. 

I decided to present those images here first before delving into any of the photos I took on my recent travels to Indiana, where I visited my old stomping grounds, Garfield Park and its Sunken Garden, and where on a separate day, I attended the 2022 rendition of the Indy Irish Festival, also held at Garfield Park. 

Because I wasn't doing any in-camera exposure bracketing, I concentrated a lot of my iPhone compositions at Yates Mill Pond on silhouettes, largely because so many such opportunities -- and light contrast situations -- presented themselves while walking the mile or so trail around the pond. 

One of my favorites is the image you see leading off the post, and I give Lee Ann huge credit for it because she noticed it first. That tiny structure you see in the background in the center of the photo is the mill for which the park was named. You'll see the mill in closer-up photos elsewhere in this post. 

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on it. This is particularly helpful if accessing the blog from a mobile device. For a full gallery of images from this shoot, click on the link in this sentence. 

Reflections, shadows and patterns (first two images below) were another attraction to the photography excursion, although the solar flare above (and one a little later) were kind of interesting, too. 

Above: This confluence of color, vegetation and water was another favorite from my batch. 

Above and below: The trail walk offered lots of opportunities to concoct ideas for compositions. 

Several turtles are camping out on this long tree brach (above). The tree trunks, branches and vegetation provide framing of the mill in the background (first photo below), and a trail marker of some sort (second photo below). 

A pedestrian bridge over the pond (above) and another interesting curving tree branch (below). 

The mill, again framed (above), a water reflection shot (first below) and a different view of the pedestrian bridge (second below).

  

We saw several downed tree trunks (above) during the trail walk, and the wildlife feeding station below is something I remember from my first trip. 

 

Above and below: More water, ripples and reflection compositions. 

I didn't have much opportunity to integrate people into my shots, but the one above was one such chance. The first photo below is the wooden installation you see a part of in the foreground above. And just off to the right of these shots are trash barrels, one of which I photographed (second photo below) for the interesting juxtaposition. 

 

One shot of the mill (above), a closeup of its wheel (first below) and a closeup of the water falling over the rock formations (second below). 

Above and below: A couple of shots of water rippling through the rock formations in the creek.

Lee Ann noticed the reflections in the mill window (above). She also was struck by the photogenic cobblestone walls and path below, which I remember (and photographed) in my first visit in 2017. In the background of the first photo below is a log cabin, which you'll see in a closer, more scenic composition in the second photo below.  

Above: The iPhone delivered (distortion notwithstanding) when I needed a wide-angle shot of the back side of the mill and sought to include the whole structure in the frame. 

There is an overlook of the pond and the dramatic water drop-off next to the mill from which I took the photo above and the first two below. The one above is another where I caught some interesting mid-afternoon flare and reflective sparkles in the water. The second photo below features another shot I was able to grab with some people in it. The are navigating the large stones spread out from the bottom area of the waterfall.    

Another reflection shot (above), this time of the mill wheel in the nearby water. Below is an exhibit of an antique wheel on display along the path to the mill.