More Flower (and Garden) Photos from Madison

The few times I've gone out and taken photos in my area, they've mostly been flower photos since, in my state, our time with these beautiful botanicals, is short.  Last weekend, I visited Madison's Olbrich Botanical Garden before their flowers started to wilt and had a great time.  The Garden is so vast and so full with different types of flowers, fountains and statues, that it's a great (and peaceful) way to spend the day.  I was thrilled to practice my close-up photography in such various ways:

 

I also got some photos of the Garden's structures including an Asian hut shipped to Madison from Japan in 2001:

What they call the "Rose Tower":

One of their gorgeous fountains:

After I went through the gardens, I went into Olbrich's main building where they had a day lily exhibition.  I had no idea there were so many varieties:

I was even fortunate to capture one of the many butterflies that are now part of Olbrich's Observatory.

If you are ever in Madison, Wisconsin, the Olbrich Botanical Garden is a great way to spend part of the day and get away from the bustling city.  And it's FREE!

Musicality of the Wisconsin State Capitol

This past weekend, I spent it at my most favorite city in Wisconsin, Madison, its state capitol.  I love Madison primarily because it's a liberal city, and my hometown of Waukesha is,well, not.  I also love that it's smaller than Milwaukee and easier to navigate.  I would live there if there were jobs available, but considering there is an average of 350 jobs per week in the Milwaukee-area and 1/3 of that amount in Madison, I think I'll take my chances here.  Madison does have the largest Farmer's Market in the state, which surrounds the state capitol building, and I made sure to get there early to get a parking spot.  I did not expect that there would also be a bike race that morning, and parking was harder to find than a normal Saturday.  In fact, there were more parking spaces available in Monona Terrace, where I parked, when I left at noon than when I arrived at 9:00 a.m.

But, I did have a fantastic time in the city I love.  I bought some homemade tortillas at the Farmer's Market, which I used to make quesadillas, and saw a fantastic photography exhibit at the Madison Art Museum.  The exhibit focused on portraiture, street photography, rural photography, the human body, and photos taken "On The Road" all after 1950.

While I was at the Farmer's Market, I took some more unique photos of the Capitol building.

This one is my favorite, since I like taking photos of reflections in other buildings:

I make it a point not to get political on this blog, but for the last few weeks, our Governor has been arresting ordinary tax-paying citizens for singing protest songs inside the State Capitol building.  In fact, anyone who stops and listens to these "Solidarity Singers", are arrested as well.  The singing is in protest of Walker taking away unions' collective bargaining rights and the fact that our state has been last in job creation in the country for the last 2 years.  However, around the Capitol, musicians have been celebrating their right to assemble, and there are a myriad of performers from folk singers:

To cover artists (these guys covered the Beatles "Back in the U.S.S.R."):

To a bagpipe player:

To a violinist:

I try to get out to Madison a few times a year, but this year seemed to go by so fast that I finally had time to go this weekend.  I hope to make it back there around Christmas-time since I've never seen their seasonal decorations.  I also spent time at their Olbrich Botanical Garden on Sunday, taking photos of flowers.  I hope to post those photos sometime this week.

My Summer in Pictures

I feel bad that I've gone two months without posting to this blog.  I would like to say that my summer has been so jam-packed, I haven't had time to write anything - but that would be false.  Truth is, I haven't done too much in Milwaukee this summer.  I missed all but one of the festivals, didn't go to any outdoor concerts, or take any trips besides the one to Savannah.  This is mostly due to not having the money to do any of these things.  I also had a volunteer job taking performance photos for a local community theatre, but it turned out to not be as much fun as I thought it would, and I just resigned.  Also, last summer, I made my big purchase of a Canon DSLR camera, and spent the entire summer going places and taking photos.  So, I feel like everything I wanted to do, I did last summer.

I did get out a few times this summer to take photos, though.  I went down to Milwaukee's South Shore (aka Bay View), and got some shots of the boats there:

I even found a cool "history of Bay View" mural:

At the end of June, I volunteered at the Lakefront Festival of Art, and took some photos of the great sculptures before my shift:

And then a couple of weeks ago, when it was overcast but not rainy, I practiced my macro flower photography at a local park's garden:

I'm hoping to stay more up-to-date on the blog.  I just took some photos this morning before brunch with a local Meetup group.  If those photos turned out as I hope, I will post them this week.