Mary, Athen, and I had a chance to see the Chihuly Glass Sculptures in Dallas a few weeks ago. If you are not familiar with Dale Chihuly, here is his website. You may have had a chance to see the glass ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. That’s a Chihuly. It was terribly hot, humid and bright. The following photos are not terribly artistic, but do a decent job of documenting the different types of Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum and what you might see at his other Sculpture Gardens.
The Dallas Arboretum is quite impressive. We have been to many gardens in California and this one is beautiful. It is in Northeast Dallas on White Rock Lake. If you happen to be in Dallas during the week, you can visit at night,Tuesday through Thursday, to beat the heat and harsh sunlight. Here are a few favorites with a more complete gallery below.
The tour starts along a creek and has stylized birds along the way. A big grassy area opens up to these lovely balls.
The highlight of the tour is the reflecting pool holding two boats. We could have spent all day here shooting the reflections.
A comment on shooting. Usually, I would recommend converting all of your mid-day photos to black and white. Clearly, that would lose the purpose here with all of the color. I would strongly recommend getting there right when they open at 10 AM or better yet, go in the evening if you can. Lastly, if you have a polarizing filter, use it. The polarizer will cut down on the glare from the glass. Mary did bring a tripod and I did not. I don’t think you need one mid-day. I did get a chace to use it a few times to try HDR. HDR was not helpful as there really was not enough contrast from highlights to lowlights to really need it. Bottom line…great subjects and bad light, but a lot of fun. To see our best photos, please go to www.pamphotography.com.
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