In July 2022, my family and I were in France for a wedding, and during the leg of the trip when we stayed in Paris, my mom and I went to a botanical garden called the Jardin des Plantes.

Flowers are probably my favorite things to photograph, maybe because it’s difficult to take a bad picture of a flower (though I’ve definitely done it). I also love all of the variation you’ll see when you spend a lot of time looking at plants. It’s a reminder that there are so many different ways for something to be beautiful. So when I considered what my first photography post should be about, our trip to the Jardin des Plantes de Paris stood out in my mind.

Last summer, I went to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens to see the lotus flowers and water lilies. My coworker had told me about the Lotus & Water Lily Festival the year before, but I hadn’t made it in time to see the blooms. This summer, I was determined to see the aquatic gardens during peak season and take way too many pictures of the beautiful flowers. And that’s exactly what I did.

I had heard from a coworker than there was an island along the coast of Maryland that had a beach and wild horses. It wasn’t until two years later, on a weekend trip to Ocean City with some friends, that I saw for myself.

The beach was so pretty. And the sky looked like it had been painted. I took a lot of pictures of the soft pink clouds hanging just above the horizon.

After admiring the views and tossing around a volleyball for a while, we packed up our beach gear and got into our cars to search for the horses.