Orchids

Today I went to the US Botanical Gardens to see the orchid display. This year the theme was “Orchid Symphony.” The display was not as big as nor have as many orchids as previous years.  However, the moss instruments covered in orchids and the timing of the fountains to the classical music playing was nice.  The music and water fountains provided a relaxed atmosphere in the main gallery of the gardens, which is why I think many people were sitting on the benches admiring the beauty of the flowers.  I went within the first hour of the gardens opening for the day so it was not crowded yet but by the time I left a lot of people were starting to come in.

I used two lenses inside the gardens an 18-200mm and a macro 60mm lens.  At past orchid displays many of my shots were macro shots, however this year the displays were not conducive to macro photography.  So my main lens was the 18-200mm at an 800 or 400 ISO on manual mode, without a tripod.  No tripods are allowed within the botanical gardens during the orchid show, however I saw two old Asian men breaking the rule and blocking some of the paths.   I did not take as many shots as usual just because of the limited number of orchids.   Overall it was a nice display, just not as large as previous years.  You can see all the photos from the day in the Orchids 2014 gallery.