We just came back from a visit to an exhibit of Ansel Adams photos, some of the Group of Seven (Canadians will know who I mean... :-) paintings and a modern Canadian photographer's industrial landscape pictures (to contrast with the Adams' natural landscape ones). Very interesting - Rouge - you mustn't be too far away from McMichael.... The exhibit is well worth a visit....!

When viewing the pictures I kept thinking landscape/gardening thoughts! In particular it struck me that Adams' photos would be a lot less powerful if they were in color. Black and white added so much clarity to the scenes. On a considerably(!) more mundane scale, that's how I feel about the backyard garden here. The largely green and white color scheme makes for a bigger impact (and a serene feel) than would a planting with an extensive and vivid range of colors. Even in the front garden here, where I do aim for a more colorful display, I limit the palette of colors on display at any one point in time and place in the garden. Perhaps some might find it boring but I find it harmonious.

The other photographer's work was in color but that, too, often had subjects with fairly limited color ranges. Pictures which included strong lines and voids/'negative' spaces in the pictures were, to me, more interesting and dramatic than those where there was less clarity of lines and spaces. I try to aim for strong lines and negative spaces in the garden too. It would be interesting to see if anyone else would see the pictures in the same way I did or would see something else entirely!

The gallery and its setting in a wooded lanscape is beautiful and interesting too. At the moment the plantings are dominated by sweeps of Rudbeckias and ornamental grasses. Generally I do't like BES as individual clumps in garden beds as I find the color harsh and hard to blend with other things, plus they seed like mad. But I do like them in large sweeps so they worked well in this site.

There are wide concrete walkways leading to the gallery and outbuildings. The concrete had been colored - obviously in an attempt to imitate rock in/near the site. (I don't remember noticing the colored concrete in previous visits, but we often visit in winter so I might just have missed it due to snow.....) I can't make up my mind whether the colored concrete works or not! On the one hand, it's obviously fake; on the other, it does pick up on some of the natural colors.... Here's some photos so you can see and decide for yourself:

Looking along a concrete path towards an outbuilding:
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This is obviously the type of rock they were aiming to imitate:
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One of the sweeps of BES and ornamental grass:
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Here is a link that might be useful: Ansel Adams exhitit at McMichael