Busy bee in Hamburg’s Planten un Blomen garden

Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city to the far north, doesn’t end up at the top of many visitors’ lists. Somehow the Southern German romance of hills, forests, beer festivals and vineyards grabs most. But all of those folks are missing out on a real diamond of Germany’s culture and  pretty gardens, like Planten un Blomen. Situated on the Elbe River, the city is a shipping and transport hub and a rather affluent port too. Hamburg’s charm, however, comes from the canals that crisscross it, and the green expanses all that water nourishes.

The subject: A visit to the Planten un Blomen Garden on your Hamburg tour is a must, whether you are a flower and garden lover, adore open spaces, enjoy dancing water fountains, or just want a nice place for a stroll or picnic. Now, not many non-Germans head there – obvious in the fact that the official Hamburg tourism website doesn’t have the garden’s page translated into English! But the official Visit Germany website helps with your Hamburg tour and a garden visit. Or take advantage of one of many water or water-and-light concerts.

The inspiration: With 47 hectares (116 acres) of flowers, trees and ponds, bees are buzz-buzzing when the flowers pop out. When I saw this garden full of pink hydrangeas in full glory and bees everywhere in the Planten un Blomen Garden, I started the chase with my lens. Bees don’t ever stop when you tell them to, nor do they land on the flowers that are what you would perhaps always deem the best to photograph. But I wouldn’t give up the hunt on my own “bee-zy” Hamburg tour

Artist’s tools: Though I am a Sony Pro Photography now, a Nikon D90 served me well for many an adventure, as did the 18-105mm lens f/3.5-5.6, both of which I got when I returned to photography after about 25 years! What I like about this focal length on a lens is its ability to capture almost everything for me without fiddling with changing lens or being draped with several cameras with different lenses. I’m a simple photographer like that. For this bee on blossoms in the Planten un Blomen garden, I was set at a 1/250^th of second at f/5.6 with a focal length of 105mm. I also try to avoid over-processing so this has only the simplest of touches.

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