Glow Winter Illuminations at RHS Harlow Carr

I mentioned in an earlier post, that, the last time we visited RHS Harlow Carr, preparations were being made for a winter event. Lights were being put in place around the gardens to illuminate areas in the central part of the garden. We thought that it would be interesting to visit and test the capabilities of our cameras, and indeed that of the photographers behind the lenses. Martyn, has just acquired the same camera as I use, and so was keen to give his new camera a test run.

We had been waiting for a dry day and had earmarked Thursday evening for our visit. Of course the weather forecast changed on Wednesday night and it seemed that the dry day we had hoped for was not going to materialise. During Thursday, Martyn monitored the rain radar. Patches of rain teased us as they crept nearer to Harrogate where Harlow Carr is situated. After much deliberation we decided to set off on the 45 minute journey and just hope for the best. If the weather was poor when we arrived we'd just turn around and head back home.

At intervals along the way, spits and spots of rain fell on the windscreen so we were not too hopeful. On arrival the only sign of rain was moisture in the air so we headed to the entrance. There we found that we were 30 minutes too early so we decided to pop into Betty's coffee shop which is located on the same site.

By the time we had finished our cappuchinos (or should that be cappuchini), the event was opened.

Cameras at the ready we headed out anticipating a chiaroscuro of colour. At first that was just what we were greeted with.

However, looking beyond the trees in the foreground all we could see was darkness punctuated by colored floodlights. It seemed that we were going to be disappointed.

Then something magical happened. I pointed my camera towards a group of trees that were faintly coloured and saw quite a different world.

The difference was amazing. The trees and shrubbery glowed brightly green, red, blue and gold. The camera saw things that the naked eye couldn't.

The only downside was that the flood lights produced flares of light that spoiled the effect but given that without them there would be no effect to spoil, we couldn't complain too much.

I overheard one woman complaining that her flash didn't fire which surprised me as use of a flash would wipe out rather than enhance the coloured lights.

Obviously lots of people were not there to take photos but I couldn't help thinking that they were missing out, as the camera transformed the scenes. I found myself, as well as using it to take photos, using the viewfinder just to see what was hiding.

Another aspect of the display was that lots of the lights were on a rotation with trees and plants changing colour so photographing the same scene could give very different effects. 

It was another thing that made obtaining a sharp image difficult along with the fact that quite a strong wind developed.

When we headed home, Martyn and I each had over a hundred photographs to sift through but one thing was certain - we were glad we went.

If you want to see more photographs, I have posted some on my Flickr page and Martyn has created a slideshow in YouTube.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett