The Denver Botanic Gardens

Here are some of the challenges of flower and garden photography we’ve covered extensively in posts of yore:

• Photos of flowers are very commonplace
• Finding unique viewpoints that reflect your own personal style in floral photography can be difficult
• Flowers themselves can be conceptually shallow as a subject, devoid of any photographic narrative besides, “here’s somethin’ purty I did saw.”

While all of these points are certainly valid arguments as to why someone who is trying to progress as an artist shouldn’t bother themselves with flower photography, I say screw it. The pursuit of high art will never stop me from taking a metric ton of flower photos whenever I step foot in a professionally curated garden. That’s why on our recent family trip to Colorado the Denver Botanic Gardens, after a wise purchase of several Mile High Culture Passes by my wife, made a serious dent in my shutter count.

 Traditionally, most of my garden shooting experience stem from trips to Longwood Gardens. At under an hour travel by car, it’s easily the most accessible large-scale curated garden I have reasonable access to. The sprawling estate and greenhouses at Longwood always offer a wide variety of subjects to photograph, and I honestly thought that nothing else could come close to the variety it offered. Enter the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Even with a much smaller footprint than Longwood, the Denver Botanic Gardens was chock-a-block with flowers of every sort. Along the winding footpaths that weave in and out of different themed areas this garden packs an astonishing botanical assortment into its available space. While I can’t claim to be much of a flower and plant guy when it comes to knowing names and regional origins, to my untrained eye it looked like they had ample floral representation from not only local species but different regions around the country as well.

Around every corner and shady nook and cranny there seemed to be a new and interesting type of flower to capture. And Bees! SO. MANY. BEES. If you suffer from a deadly bee allergy, the Denver Botanic Gardens would be a figurative nightmarish hellscape. As an allergy-unafflicted individual, I found the fuzzy little guys delightful with all their buzzing around doing what I can only assume is the lord’s work of pollination. Again. Cannot stress enough. Not a nature expert.

In addition to the flowers and insects, there were also some neat little details scattered here and there throughout the grounds. One highlight is what I dubbed the “Home Depot” for birds: several hexagonal shelves filled with tiny sticks and bits of twine and cloth. I’m guessing the staff stock these areas for use by local birds to build their nests. With readily accessible construction materials on hand (or beak, I guess), our winged friends are less likely to purloin the ornamental elements of the gardens.

Another noteworthy aspect of the Gardens was its collaboration with a prominent artist. When we visited, an inspiring art installation by Jaume Plensa was featured. In addition to a major sculptural showpiece outdoors near one of the ponds, there was also an extensive exhibit with several different works in one of the indoor buildings. Taking in the Plensa’s figurative sculptures in the cool a/c was a nice respite from the rising heat outside.

While I can’t say that I broke any new ground on the floral photography front, I did really enjoy my time in the gardens. At the very least, I came away with a couple of “blog-worthy” shots. Sometimes high art isn’t in the cards, but you can still take pleasure in enjoying the craft, especially if the subjects are purty.

PHOTO GALLERY – DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS