Park and Tilford Gardens
... 8 Themed Gardens For Your Inner Photographer

If you're anywhere near the North Vancouver area, get out to Park and Tilford Gardens... take your camera along with you. You'll find a large variety of plants, fountains, garden structures and just a divine space to lose yourself for a day. It's a wonderful small garden to get in some flower and garden photography .

Park and Tilford Garden main entrance in the shopping centre.

The front entrance is interesting for photos - the sign is a half circle, a nice shape to place in the top half of the photo. I took this shot from the side but I walked around from one side to the other and got several angles.

It's a good idea to look at your subject from all sides and you'll come up with one angle that you really like.

A Few Highlights Of Park and Tilford Garden

Park and Tilford Gardens Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets at Park Tilford Gardens near the entrance.

The sun was strong and the walkway was shaded and it made for a high contrast scene. A really strong sun might limit the good shots you can get on any day. On all my daytime visits, it was bright and sunny and on those days, it's difficult to get even light. Evening is better because the sun is lower and the heavy foliage shades the garden.

The pergola at Park & Tilford, a relaxing and quiet retreat if you have a good book with you.

So visit on a lightly overcast day and limit the amount of sky in your shot. Big blobs of white sky will ruin your photo unless you're skilled at Photoshop. Then you can use another sky and pop it into your image.

The Japanese Garden

There are huge differences between Asian and Western gardens. Both aim to create a relaxing niche. But Asian gardens use a lot of rock, sand and water... they're heavy on symbolism.

Rock and water are nature's basic elements. Rock is body - water is spirit. Water reflects like a mirror and makes a space appear much larger than it actually is. Photographers get ecstatic about reflections.

Like the illusion of putting a large mirror in a small hallway. Makes you feel you could step right through it into another world, right? Sort of Alice in Wonderland. That's what I thought when I was a kid!

Here's the oriental garden from the tea house. A view of the Park and Tilford Garden through the full moon shaped window! Find frames to shoot through. They give the photo some extra interest.

The Japanese Garden from the moon window in the tea house. A nice view of the shrubs and trees. Windows make a creative frame for a scene you want to photograph.

You can make frames out of tree branches, so that they sweep across a side or top of your photo. Great trick for cutting out boring white skies!

Windows are fun to shoot through, and bridges... they provide framing on all four sides of your picture.

And here's a Japanese Maple right beside the tea house and just at the red bridge. This shot was taken with an iPhone 5s. If you don't have your "big girl" camera with you, it's no excuse to let photo opportunities slide by.

Japanese Maple Across the Bridge, Park Tilford

In the Japanese Garden. This maple is just across the bridge, beside the tea house. I love the curly branches!

I edited this JPG in Photoshop. It didn't need much work... the iPhone camera is so impressive. A lot of professional photographers use their cell phone cameras often. There's even an arm of photography that's become a real thing ... iPhoneography... read about it here. Tons of fun cell phone apps, small lenses and filters...ya gotta love technology!

Seasonal Photography at Park Tilford

Festival of Lights at Park Tilford Gardens.In December it's a seasonal celebration.

Park and Tilford Gardens isn't just a summer-time fling... they put on an amazing show during the winter season. Their Festival of Lights is a must-see so put it in your calendar and make sure you take your photography gear. For night photography, that means a tripod!

Drop by any season... there's always something worth photographing.

Wrapping it up

Think you might want to stop off at the gardens? You can do a bit of shopping or get a snack at one of the restaurants in the Park and Tilford Shopping Centre and Gardens and visit the gardens all in one go.

Park Tilford Gardens Ornamental Cabbages

The gardens ornamental cabbages and artistic banners. After you make a circular path through all 8 gardens, you'll end here, where you started out!

The garden opened to the public in January 1969. It has an interesting history... the creation of the Chairman of Park and Tilford Distillery - George D. Kuhn. Just as you get into the garden, there's a plaque and bronze head of this charitable gentleman on the right.

Mr. Kuhn donated the garden to the community and people of British Columbia. But people from all over the world come to enjoy this garden.

The 3 acres is much like a house with 8 rooms. They all blend smoothly into each other and the top notch design gives the impression that the space is much larger than it really is. Take your time, relax and enjoy your walk-about.

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