Chicago, like any metropolitan city throughout the world, has so much to offer both its residents and visitors.  I planned a weekend excursion to Chicago and while I was primarily there to visit friends, a good friend and I planned a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden.  When I lived in Chicago proper, I visited the Chicago Botanic Garden many times, but it had been quite a few years since I was last there.  The Botanic Garden encompasses 156 ha (385 ac) with 27 gardens, four natural areas and nine islands, and there are still some areas I have never visited.  It’s motto is ‘City in a Garden’, which seems appropriate, though my impression is that the encompassed area could be likened to an nature reserve oasis within a metropolitan jungle.

Some years ago, I attended an amazing concert performance by a guest carillonneur who manually played the Carillon Bells on Evening Island.  And during another visit, I attended a Cooking & Organic Vegetable Garden Marketplace event where I sampled a variety of foods from the Fruit & Vegetable Garden and, to date, they had the best hummus I have ever had.  Perhaps my favourite areas are the English Walled Garden, English Oak Meadow, the Conifer Garden, and the Japanese Garden islands.

During this excursion to the Botanic Garden, I was not there for a specific photography session, however, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to use my new super telephoto zoom lens to photograph florae or faunas and other aspects of the gardens we visited.

About This Photograph

The above photograph was taken in the Heritage Garden and shows an Anisoptera (Dragonfly) resting on a reed.  I grew up near a wee loch where dragonflies were abundant, and ever since I have always been fascinated with them.  Prior to taking this photograph, I tried and tried to capture a dragonfly in flight, but to no avail; just as a dragonfly held it’s position in flight, by the time I found it in the view finder and tried to focus on it, the dragonfly would move on.  Had I been shooting film & not digital, I would have wasted many rolls of 36 exp. film.