Food and Water at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Before we get started, here are the links to check out the rest of the series from my January 30, 2018, road trip to the Mendocino Coast to experience the Super Blood Blue Moon.  

Blue Moon!  You caught me dancing alone...  

We've got beaches in mind...

Mama liked the roses...

Gathering flowers for the Master's bouquet...

Yes, those are all actually lines from songs that match the subject of the post.  Haha

Anywho, I was very excited to see that the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden has a section dedicated to growing food!  There is a garden at Oakland's Lake Merritt that also has this and it's really fun to go and see how beautiful food is when it's growing.  

So I've devoted this last post to the food garden where I got some amazing macro shots that might make you view the food in the produce aisle in a slightly different way.  So much beauty and plenty in this world that we sometimes take for granted.  

In addition to the food, I decided to include shots with water in them.  I left a couple in the other posts because the focus was more on the flowers, but I definitely wanted the majority to be with the food as these both sustain God's creatures.  So let's get started. 

The first photo is water on blue and purple leaves. 

Next is a dewy spider web above some bushes. 

I've got to say, I'm really happy with these extension tubes!  I was really concerned because they are only manual focus and my eyesight is TERRIBLE.  So I worried that I might not be able to tell when things were in focus.  But I did pretty well, if I do say so myself.  

One of the most beautiful veggies in the grocery store or in the field/garden is Rainbow Chard.  

I love this next shot.  The water is so pretty and shimmery and there's good depth of field so some of the water creates natural bokeh.  Lovely. 

Love these too because the Lacinto Kale has perfect little cubbies for the dew drops to settle in. 

So cute!

Ruby Chard

Red Leaf Lettuce

I'm not sure what this next one is, but it sure is pretty!

As is this stunning purple cabbage with it's green and purple outer leaves that you don't normally see in the market. 

Okay!  Last photo from this trip and I confess it really doesn't fit this post!  haha  

I'm pretty sure it's a succulent and not food and there is no water visible.  

But!  

It reminded me of the old "two peas in a pod" saying so I thought I'd just go ahead and drop it here.  

💚💧

xoxo

Nikon D3300

Gardens By the Sea - The Amazing Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens January 2018

After wandering around the beaches of Fort Bragg after the Super Blood Blue Moon, I headed over to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens next.  I had some extension tubes with me that I had never tried out, so i wanted to take the opportunity to work on some Macro Photography.  

To be honest, I wasn't sure if there would be a lot of flowers blooming, but the gardens are huge -  so I was hopeful.  Also honestly, I didn't even cover like a quarter of the gardens.  Did I mention they are huge?  

See that little square in the upper right corner of the map?  That's basically all I saw.  I mean, I had been up all night and done quite a bit of walking by this point.  Plus had to drive 4-5  hours or so to get home depending on traffic.  So I couldn't spend all day at the gardens without being in danger of driving while sleepy. 

But, despite it being the end of January, I was delighted to see that there were many flowers in bloom and a ton of other cool stuff to see (and of course photograph)!  So, I'll be splitting this into a series because otherwise, frankly, all of the color and patterns are a little overwhelming to the eye. 

So, welcome to the world of Macro Photography (or, welcome back if you already are familiar with this genre)!

Macro Photography is not limited to just flowers/plants, although that is mostly what I focused on this particular day.  But there are also some fun sculptures in the gardens and I love art too, so I couldn't resist.  

I think the beautiful thing about Macro Photography is that in bringing things so close, the focus is more on patterns and light.  Mood and emotion.  Instead of the scene as a whole.  It's a little bit abstract and I love to feel that I might be creating something in a macro shot that other people may not have noticed or a perspective they may not have thought about.  

This next one reminds me of a spider or an octopus.  

In case you couldn't tell, stamen are one of my favorite targets.  But berries and other things are just as interesting in Macros.

Macros can even give a new perspective to a branch with peeling bark . 

Another awesome thing is that pictures get a lot of "natural bokeh" which is not bokeh caused by the camera, but rather by the magnification of things in the background such as petals, water, light through leaves, etc., some of which you can see in the pictures above and below. 

The birth of a flower.

Most people know I love to birdwatch too.  So of course I was carrying my "big" 300 zoom lens just in case I happened upon some birds.  And I did!  I quickly switched out lenses when I heard the distinctive knocking of a woodpecker in the trees above my head. 

And I was so happy because there was not just one, but three clown-faced Acorn Woodpeckers!

This is a good time to end the story for now.  Stayed tuned for more macro magic in the next post!

xoxo

Nikon D3300