Garfield Park Conservatory

Nov 23

"Not all those who wander are lost."

J.R.R Tolkien

One of my places to go in the brutally cold Chicago winters is the Garfield Park Conservatory. The conservatory is a building full of beautiful plants of all kinds and has oxygen that doesn’t hurt when you take it in. I made my first trip there of the winter and I’m reminded how much of I love wondering the grounds and buildings full of plants. I think this trip produced some of the best work I’ve done here.

I went on a week day and there was a school group of preschool and kindergarten classes there. It was so cute to see them experiencing the plants. I got a couple of questions my way from the curious kido’s and they reminded me of my niece and nephews. I had to be conscious of who was behind me and make sure to look down before I moved back to take a photo to make sure I didn’t accidentally body check a small human.

I spent all of my time in two rooms, the desert and fern rooms. I also like the room that I think is called the show room. The room changes with the changing of the seasons. With winter and the holidays coming they are making it holiday themed. They were putting together when I went but it already smelled wonderful, basically heaven on earth. It’s going to be finished on 11/29. I’m going to be excited to go back when it’s finished to photograph and just spend more time in that wonderful smell. I wish I could get a candle of the smell.

I went to the desert room first which is in the back of the building. The building is warm which is nice on a winter day but it can fog up my camera. The desert room is my favorite and walking to the back of the building gives my camera opportunity to warm up. I walking in with a group of people so I was hoping if I headed to the back I would have the space to myself for a bit. The school kids where in there so that didn’t work like I planned it. I spend about 30 minutes in that room before moving on.

I love the fern room because there is so much going on in that room. It has multiple waterfalls, koi fish, at least 3 turtles and a duck(which I believe is plastic but can’t confirm that). I enjoy walking through but I have trouble not just taking similar photos each time I walk into it. I think I did a better job of it this time but I think I still can challenge myself to do better. I got a couple of shots that I’m proud of. The paths aren’t very wide and with a lot of people in the room it can hard to get shots. A couple of the groups from the school were in there with me. When I go back to get photos of the display in the show room, I plan on challenging myself to get different shots.

I find the Garfield Park Conservatory to be a treasure in Chicago. I would love to know where you like to visit when Chicago? What do you consider a treasure where you live?