In mid-December I was able to make another visit to the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Since my daughter started high school, visiting places that are somewhat far from us has become quite difficult due to her very strange drop off and pick up schedule. But this day provided an opportunity to spend some time farther away from home, and I chose the Arboretum for my destination.

I have been using my Lensbaby lenses a lot more than my auto lenses. One exception was a fundraising project at my daughter’s school theater program, where I documented their creation of a play throughout two weeks of rehearsals, and made the images available to purchase for the parents, which resulted in some extra funds for the Theater program. When it comes to people photography, catching moments on stage – especially with youth actors – is what I really enjoy to do.

Now back to my Arboretum visit. I first walked though the Aloe Trail, and towards the end of it I found this gorgeous succulent in the shade. (Velvet 56)

After continuing my walk towards Meadowbrook, I suddenly was presented with beautiful fall colors – something I haven’t really experienced in Southern California. (Sol 45)

A little bit farther even more fall beauty showed up. I tried different lenses with this tree, and chose this Velvet 56 to be my favorite.

Just a few steps away from the previous tree is the Meyberg Waterfall. I spent 45 minutes at this location, experimenting with all my Lensbaby lenses. Out of all the images I found the next three the most pleasing to me (Burnside 35, Double Glass, Pinhole):

I continued my walk and ended up at the Herb Garden, which houses this unbelievably beautiful Ginkgo Biloba tree. (Single Glass and Double Glass)

And not too far away I noticed another Ginkgo Biloba tree that seemed to be a favorite spot for many photographers. This tree looked magical with its backlit leaves.

The Arboretum hosts the Moonlight Forest exhibit, which features numerous handcrafted lanterns and live performances at every night until January 6, 2019. During my daytime walk I photographed a few of the lanterns (Sol 45, then Single Glass):

Even though I only meant to spend a short time at the Arboretum and then head over to the Huntington Gardens, I – once again- was captivated by this place so much, that I ended up staying here for the whole time I had. It was tranquil, beautiful, and the SoCal winter sunshine made my trip very memorable.

What are some places you keep going back to? What attracts you to that location?

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