When I was traveling with a photography group last fall, a friend of mine let me borrow a lens – it was a very nice lens and I could tell why he was making it real clear that he’d loaned it to me. It was a 56mm, f1.2, and: wow!

And then, of course you know what happened: I had to get one for my very own. And I used it all day on my visit to the botanical garden; as it turns out, shooting short depth of field added some interest to these images that other lenses wouldn’t have gotten.

Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024

Oh, so I lied yesterday when I said I was only posting one photo of an agave. I clearly meant I’d be posting more than one.

But this one’s got the added interest of the way the clay pot is chipping apart. That’s really the reason I made the image – well, OK: it was the second reason.

Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024

A thing I’ve recently noticed that I like is going to botanical gardens when I’m traveling. It’s a nice way to get outside and see plants I may not be used to looking at, and to pretend that I am, in fact, the kind of person who likes yard work.

During a visit to the Springs Preserve, I was entirely enchanted at the way the unfolding spears of the agave plants embossed their shapes onto the adjacent spears. I think probably half the photos I made that day were of various agave…but (so far) I’m just posting this one.

Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024