Greenhouse Revisited

Over the winter we explored this abandoned greenhouse. In the original post there was no greenery. Everything was dead. This time it was an entirely different story. When we first drove up I was worried that we would have a difficult time walking through the place. The growth looked impenetrable. Thankfully the inside wasn't nearly as bad as we thought. It was still a far cry from what it was like the last time we were there.

These little flowers were everywhere. They would fall like snow every time the wind blew, or every time Kaylah would shake the branches to cover us all in little flowers.

Quintessential group shot on the abandoned car. 

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Photos taken with a Canon 6D, with a Canon 35mm f/1.4 and Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.

Cleveland's Greenhouse

I love plants and nature but it's definitely not something that I photograph very often. That's probably why I tend to forget that Cleveland has a beautiful old greenhouse that's free and open to the public year round. This greenhouse opened in 1905 on a portion of the 270 acres of land donated to the city of Cleveland by John D. Rockefeller, the richest US citizen ever. The greenhouse has a huge collection of plants inside and out. The day we went it was unseasonably cold outside, which made the visit to the greenhouse even more enjoyable since it was nice and warm inside.

As beautiful as the plants were, one of my favorite aspects of the greenhouse is the architecture. It's classic Cleveland. Steel and brick.

Photos taken with a Canon 6D, with a Canon 35mm f/1.4 and Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.

Forty-Four Years Too Late

Anytime I go to an estate sale, flea market, antique store, thrift store, or garage sale; I look for cameras. If I can get a camera at a decent price I'll buy it. At a recent estate sale I picked up a couple Polaroid cameras. One of them came in a really nice camera bag. Inside of the camera bag was an open but unused pack of Polaroid Type 107 film. It expired in 1971 but I threw it in the camera and started taking a few test shots.

I was shocked that the chemicals hadn't dried out, but the first few photos still didn't yield much of an image. 

Eventually I was able to snap a couple photos that actually kind of worked.

It was really cool being able to shoot with film that old. I actually really like shooting with expired film whenever I can get my hands on some regardless of what kind of film it is. 

Photos taken with a Polaroid Colorpack II, using Polaroid Type 107 film.

Memorial Day At The Camper On The Lake

Back in March I blogged about what I called 'The Salton Sea of the Midwest' here and here. It was cold and snowy and the trees were bare. Since then I've been anxious to make a return visit once everything had begun to grow again. On Memorial Day I had my chance. We tried to leave early enough to get here in time for sunrise, and we failed, but we still got here in time to take advantage of some great early morning light. We even brought a small grill so that we could have a Memorial Day picnic, but none of us brought any food so that didn't work out very well. Despite a couple hard fails, the day was still a lot of fun. 

Everyone's favorite trailer, the watermelon. 

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I took almost the exact same photo the first time I was here. It's always interesting to see how things change over time.

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And here's almost the same photo but with Kaylah in it. I had to include in the post. It's one of my favorites from the day.

This cottage is trying to hide.

This is another photo very similar to one that I took the last time I was here. This couch and the colors of the wall are just too good not to shoot.

Well worth the return visit, just as it will be worth making a visit here in the Fall as well.

Photos taken with a Canon 6D, with a Canon 35mm f/1.4 and Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.