Park and Tilford Gardens
8 Themed Gardens - Endless Photo Ops

Get out to Park and Tilford Gardens and don't forget your camera! A large variety of plants, fountains, structures and just a great space to hone your flower and garden photography skills.

The garden opened to the public in January 1969. It has an interesting history... the creation of the Chairman of Park and Tilford Distillery - George D. Kuhn. Just as you get into the garden, there's a plaque and bronze head of this charitable gentleman on the right.

Mr. Kuhn donated the garden to the community and people of British Columbia. But people from all over the world come to enjoy this garden.

The 3 acres is much like a house with 8 rooms. They all blend smoothly into each other and the top notch design gives the impression that the space is much larger than it really is.

Love to photograph roses? Good place for you... the rose garden is out in the open sunshine and there are almost 300 plants, 24 varieties, lots of Canadian roses.

Much of the rest of the garden is in shade because of the pines and other tall trees, so it can be challenging for photographers. If you want even light, visit on a lightly overcast day.

But the garden is marvellous to visit on a bright, warm, sunshiny day! Soak up the scents and beauty and pick your photo ops more carefully. After a dull gray Vancouver winter, it's one of the first gardens I'm heading to...

...the minute that spring sun comes back!

Here's a map to orient yourself. Make your way to 333 Brooksbank Avenue, turn in to the shopping center and go straight to the far right corner. When you're finished in the garden, shop or sip on a latte!

The front entrance is great for photos - the sign is a half circle, a nice shape to place in the top half of the photo. I took this shot from the side but I walked around from one side to the other and got several angles.

It's a good idea to look at your subject from all sides and you'll come up with one angle that you really like.

The sun was strong and the walkway was shaded and it made for a contrasty scene. A really strong sun might limit the good shots you can get on any one day.

If you have a choice, visit on a lightly overcast day and limit the amount of sky in your shot. Big blobs of white sky are take away from the photo.

When the colonade garden is in full bloom, it's magnificent! Over 70 meters - 200 feet long and semicircular shape. Surrounding it, magnolias and rhododendrons and lower to the ground, the hostas.

The hanging baskets seem to bloom continually - the bright colored fushias. The curving lines are perfect for leading your eyes through the photo.

By the way, Park and Tilford gardens are cosmopolitan - this pergola's a Spanish design!

Moon Gates are traditional structures in Chinese gardens... a symbol of perfection... always circular like the full moon. The roof tiles are blue - the color of the sky.

From here you can't see the winding pathway around the pond, over the bridge and into the tea house. But you can see lots of rocks. There's a stand of bamboo, bonsai and Japanese Maples. And a pond filled with water loving irises!

If you look at the garden through the gate you'll catch a glimpse of the pond and the half moon bridge.

There are huge differences between Asian and western gardens. Both aim to create a relaxing niche. But Asian gardens use a lot of rock, sand and water, and they're heavy on symbolism.

Rock and water are nature's basic elements. Rock is body - water is spirit. Water reflects like a mirror and makes a space appear much larger than it actually is. Photographers get ecstatic about reflections.

Like a large mirror in a small hallway. Makes you feel you could step right through it into another world, right? Sort of Alice in Wonderland. At least that's what I thought when I was a kid!

Here's the oriental garden from the tea house. A view of the Park and Tilford garden through the full moon shaped window! Find frames to shoot through. They give the photo some extra interest.

You can make frames out of tree branches, so that they sweep across a side or top of your photo. Great trick for cutting out boring white skies!

Windows are fun to shoot through, and bridges... they provide framing on all four sides of your picture.

Leaving the oriental garden... here's the back gate. And another great example of framing!

This gate leads into the Native Garden - then around to the garden office buildings and the rose garden.

Did you pick up some creative ideas for photographing an Oriental Garden. These are just a few insights. Research before you go. Find out about any symbolism special to the garden you want to visit.

With that information, you could come out with some fabulous stories to tell about your photos! And it might influence the composition of your pictures.

We're at the far side of Park and Tilford now, looking across the office buildings. It's late September and there's an autumn display. Gold and red mums and pumpkins - Halloween's coming!

Train yourself to turn your camera and take vertical as well as horizonal shots. Sometimes things are better when they're tall and skinny! And, others are better short and fat! Take both views, then compare them on your computer.

One thing to be careful about is how straight the buildings are. My camera has a grid that I can turn on in my viewfinder. That way, I line up the side of the building with a grid line so it doesn't look like it's leaning!

Same scene, from a different angle and a horizontal view. Both of these photos have great diagonal lines that give the scene perspective. The lines run across the photo and get closer to each other on one side - that's perspective.

Our eyes tell our brain that there's distance in the photo, even though we know that the picture's really flat!

Something else I like about these photos is the fall colors... gold, yellow, orange, red - so warm.

See the repeating patterns in the brick wall and the patio? Repeating patterns make for interesting composition.

You should plan a visit to Park and Tilford Gardens when the lavender colored wisteria is in full bloom! That's in May. It's finished now that it's September, but still a beautiful shape to photograph.

The wisteria fits neatly inside a wrought iron gazebo. Kind of a small circular room with a couple of wrought iron benches inside. Think of the hedge as a thick, green, living wall.

Stand inside the gazebo - you'll get a great view of the rose garden and a fountain. Love photographing roses? Great opportunity for some excellent specimens!

So many structures to add interest to your photos. And lots of wrought iron...

... like the support for these hanging baskets. They're just before the herb garden and across from the Park and Tilford greenhouse. Beautiful when they're in bloom!

Another chance to practice getting the wrought iron bars straight in your photo. Don't tilt your camera. Use a tripod. You can get a level to put on top of your camera or use my trick, the grid in the viewfinder.

There are times when you want to tilt the horizon for creative effect. But if your horizon is off by only a little bit, it looks like a mistake. If you do it on purpose, make sure it's a large angle!

Park and Tilford Garden has one huge challenge for photographers. Can you guess what it is?

No? Well, it's the light... the sun shines though the thick trees and everything is dappled! Very bright sunshine breaking through into dark shady spots. Not easy scenes to shoot! Do you know why?

Before you read this, take a few minutes to study the 3 photos. Why do you think I'm using them for comparison?

Okay, ready? Got some ideas?

What's in this first photo that's not all that attractive? Right, a very large garbage container! It's not an ugly garbage bin - Park and Tilford made it attractive as far as garbage bins go! But it ends up being the center of this photo.

It's almost in the middle and the highlights draw your eye right to it. Not the best drawing card for any picture! But the scene really has promise so how can I get a better angle?

Park and Tilford has several fountains. This one, with three frogs spouting water from their mouths is really worth a picture.

At first I wanted to get both the frog fountain and the lines of that walkway all in one shot. I had to give up on that. No matter where I stood, I couldn't capture both without including the bin.

So I had to make a choice - it meant two pictures. The lines and textures in this picture are good composition. The converging lines give the viewer perspective and you can see yourself strolling down the walk and through the arch of bushes.

The V angle of the wall is good and at least I was able to include the stone bench. That adds interest. The frog fountain is in front of the bench and out of the picture.

Oh well, the 3 frogs get their own photo. Can you see the challenge with the light and dark at Park and Tilford? Not the best lighting, but at this garden you have to work around it the best you can.

Use your histogram if your camera has one. What's more important to capture - the detail in the light or the dark areas? Your histogram will help you figure out your exposure.

Practice your exposure on a sunny day. Fewer problems when it's overcast but then you'll have less light. That means a tripod! Your shutter speeds will be slower and that means camera shake.

You could change your ISO if you can only hand hold your camera. But a tripod is best... no camera shake and you can be more creative with your shutter speed and aperture.

Interested in the Park and Tilford Gardens Festival of Lights? Here's a page devoted to it. They do a bang-up job of this seasonal display so watch the video and enjoy the photos.

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