Kew Gardens is
250 in 2009
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens is
celebrating it's 250 anniversary in 2009. Kew is an extensive landscaped garden,
with historical structures and botanical glasshouses situated between Richmond
and Kew in southwest London. It is an internationally important botanical
research and education institution with around 700 staff, as well as a visitor
attraction. In this weeks issue we
take a look at the history of Kew
Gardens
as well as providing a
location guide
giving all the details you need to visit.
Kew, like many of the major botanical gardens is an all year round attraction and has a continually changing range of plants on show depending on the time of year. During the winter months, in more recent years, and 2008 is no exception it also adds an additional attraction of a large outdoor ice rink.
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The Fieldfare a Winter Visitor to the Uk
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During 2009 it will be celebrating it's pivotal role as a world-leader in plant science and conservation, and giving visitors a glimpse into the important role botanic gardens play in the future of the planet. It starts on New Year's Day (Jan 1st 2009) when for News Years Day only they are opening for FREE.
2009 also sees the 200th
anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of 'On
the Origin of Species' and from 7th February to 8th March, and Kew will also be
marking these milestones with varying exhibitions throughout the year. The
Princess of Wales Conservatory will be displaying a tropical extravaganza with
plants such as orchids taking centre stage. From May to September there will be
new floral displays in the gardens and the centre point will be a Global Garden
and Map. See this
link
to keep
up to date with what is going on during the anniversary year.
Kew is a Botanical Garden and is one of a
number throughout the UK. The first UK Botanic
Garden was in Oxford in 1621 and our second article takes a look at
what are botanical gardens
and they are a good place for photographers to visit and capture the wide
variety of trees, plants and structures. Many of the specimens on display you
would normally have to visit foreign climes for but many will only be in
botanical gardens and no longer in their natural environment due to changes in
climate and destruction of habitat by man over the centuries. Botanical gardens
are likely to play an important role in the future in being able to both produce
and see plants that no longer exist in the wild. We
have also put together a list of
Botanical Gardens in the UK
that we have been able to identify.
Winter/Christmas Festivities
Yes its coming up to that time of year again, some like it and some don't. The shops and attractions love it, it gives them a chance to get their hands on some of our cash. Many attractions that are open during December put on special seasonal related activities and some even install ice rinks, Christmas markets and more to encourage us to visit and take a look. One of these attractions is Winter Ice Rinks.
We have mentioned the one at Kew Gardens above but
there are many other Winter ice rinks in various locations around the country,
including at 8 different locations in London such as at Somerset House, Tower of
London, Hampton Court Palace. But there are also others found at Edinburgh,
Cardiff, Cheltenham and more. Not all of these are annual events, for example
this year Birmingham are not having one because their sponsor pulled out at the
last minute. Over recent years they have become more popular with specialist
companies who hire them out to the venues, so there are probably many more than
on the list we have compiled, more local to you. Take a look at our list
Outdoor Winter Ice Rinks
to see where you might get to see or skate on one. Remember, the highlights when
photographing white ice and if you are lucky enough to visit at night you could
get some good night time photography practice. Taking a look at our articles on
photographing
Carnivals,
and
Fun Fairs
should give you some pointers on how to go about this.
Don't forget we are also now in the Christmas
Lights period, with many switch-ons taking place over the coming weeks and when
we get to the middle of December the
Mousehole Christmas Harbour Lights
in
Cornwall will be switched on. The
Enchanted Christmas at the National Arboretum,
Westonbirt in Gloucestershire starts today and
runs to 21st December. Photographing
Illuminated Forests,
specifically looks at how to go about getting those good shots and being able to
pick up the colours on them.
This time of
year there are also many light parades of one type or another all over the
country and other quirky events which take place during December, like the Great
Christmas Pudding Race take a look at the diary for details on some of these.
Our article on taking pictures of
Streets at Night
should also help with all the situations that have been mentioned here
Diary Update
I cannot believe 2008 is nearly at an end and today we have added the diary for January 2009. Listed in this month you have everything from Fire Festivals, traditional football games, The ‘Mad’ Maldon Mud Race in Essex, the London Boat Show, and a Sled Dog rally at Aviemore just to give you an idea. See the diary pages for more. We have also updated the Highlights Forward.
The Nature and Wildlife Calendar has also been updated for January 2009. It will not only give you ideas of some events that take place throughout the year, like the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch Weekend which takes place on the 24th and 25th January 2009, but will also give you an idea of what flora and fauna is in the UK during the different months. This weeks picture is of a Fieldfare a regular winter visitor to the UK who likes to feed on the berries in our hedgerows and on the holly trees as well as any fallen fruits. It's distinctive red breast and grey head singles it out from the thrushes you might see in your garden or in the countryside.
The Photographers diary on this website is always a good place to start to find things to photograph throughout the year and of course our location guides give you so much more.
A Winter Tidy Up
We all have a spring clean every year to clear out the cobwebs and get ready for the summer months. During the Winter months many of us will take the opportunity to search through those photos we took throughout the year and do some filing, editing and even submitting. Well as part of our winter tidy up here we have taken the opportunity to tidy up or Gardens Section and the Roman Section under Heritage.
The Gardens Section
Some gardens such as the Royal Botanic's at
Kew
and
Edinburgh
and the RHS Gardens of
Wisley,
Harlow
Carr,
Rose
Moor
and
Hyde
Hall
are all year round
attractions, except for Christmas Day, but we're all busy then and after a good
Christmas Lunch and tipple probably don't feel like going out anyway. Others
however will have closed in order to tidy up and recoup ready for the coming
2009 season. As a part of our winter tidy up we have taken the opportunity to
update our 'Gardens
Section'
and now have our alpha lists
for Scotland and Wales split into county listings, which completes the set, for
now. So you can not only now look up a garden by it's name, but you can take a
look at the county lists and find out what might be open near you. We have also
of course added some extra articles (above) as well as a
further information page
which contains some books specifically on photographing gardens and plants,
these may make an ideal gift or could be added to your Christmas wish list. A
walk in a garden during the winter months, can be a little bleak and cold, but
catch it on a frosty day and wrap up warm, and you have great macro
opportunities of not only the plants and leaves covered in the frost, but also
get close enough and you can photograph the crystals as they rest on their host.
Gardens and landscapes with a mist on a hazy day can also give a photo with a
mood.
The Romans Section
When we put together the Roman
Section earlier in the year we had completed the alpha listings of the places
you could visit and therefore photograph, but we didn't get around to creating
the county lists. County listings are a useful way of finding locations to
photograph as most people know which county they live in or they are about to
visit, whereas we do not always know the name of the place. So take a peak at
the Roman Section
and see if there is something near you, again as with gardens some of the Roman
sites in Britain are open all year round and a crisp walk along Hadrians Wall
can be quite refreshing and exhilarating, but don't forget to wrap up warm to
keep out the cold and of course don't forget to take your camera, you will be
really annoyed if you see a shot and don't have it with you.
NEW Nikon D3X Announcement - Expected SOON
It is expected that either within the next few days or sometime during December Nikon will be launching it's NEW D3X DSLR. This is not unexpected as earlier in the year they made an error of mentioning it in a Firmware Update on their website, until they frantically removed it. From recent communications I have had it appears to be following on from the D3 and will continue to be an FX format camera able to produce 24.5 megapixel photos. We will keep an eye out for the announcement and include it this newsletter when it happens.
County
List for Gardens in Scotland
County List for Gardens in Wales
Kew Gardens Winter Ice Rink,
Kew, Surrey
