A regular Ansel Adams

In spring, my young man’s fancy turns to … gardens. So on Friday (the 13th), we decided to indulge in a day of full spring fancy and spent the day at the Flower and Garden Show. It was a special Ethan and Mommy day. So after soccer, Daddy was kind enough to drive us down to Navy Pier, and drop us off to begin our adventure (which saved us walking the 3/4 mile length of the pier to get to the exhibition hall at the far end).

After checking our coats and getting my ticket (Ethan was still free, being two weeks shy of his birthday), we headed into fantasy land.

Ethan brought his camera with, and immediately wanted me to dig it out of my bag so he could get started with his photography. Last summer, we bought him an old digital camera off of craigslist (of course) so that he could snap to his hearts content and we didn’t need to worry about our camera. After an initial period of picture taking, the camera spent many months in a drawer. We rediscovered the joys of photography a few weeks ago, and his computer has been slowly filling up with new shots ever since.

Ethan’s photography skills are slowly progressing beyond his initial “just swing the camera around and push the button” stage. He is learning to frame up his shots using the screen on back, and is getting better at holding the camera still while pushing the shutter.

And he takes it all very seriously. Which greatly amused the (mostly) ladies at the garden show.

At every garden display, he would comment on the flowers or plants, the colors or the nice example of a plant we have or that is in one of our catalogs or books. Then he would whip out the camera and very carefully frame up his shot, complete oblivious still to the comments around him.

“Oh, look at the photographer. He’s very serious about it, isn’t he?" “He’s a regular Ansel Adams.”

We managed to take all 92 pictures his camera holds before we ran out of steam and decided to catch the trolley home. (Okay, we had to catch the trolley to the train, and take the train home. But it started our journey.)

Our garden, which has not benefited from intensive time in the greenhouse, does not look nearly as spectacular as the gardens at the show, but our crocuses are starting to bloom, and the tulips and daffodils are pushing their leaves up quite high. And soon, it too will be back in action.