Kasugai Gardens is a beautiful, peaceful and serene location in downtown Kelowna. It features lush plants, a koi pond, stone lanterns and a waterfall.
It was created to demonstrate the friendship between Kelowna and its sister city in Kasugai, Japan.
In the summer months The Garden is open from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
It’s a wonderful place to get away from the bustle of a city and relax.
When you first walk into the garden and follow the signs one of the first little bridges you cross has this little creek running underneath it. To get this shot I got the camera real low to the water.
ISO 2000 / 1/1600 sec f/2.8
Throughout the garden you will find these stone lanterns that is a traditional element found in Japanese Gardens.
ISO 640 / 1/320 sec / f/2.8
The largest bridge in the garden is found in the center and overlooks the Koi Pond. On the left side of the bridge you have the gazebo that also overlooks the Koi Pond and on the right the waterfall.
ISO 640 / 1/800 sec / f/2.8
Because the garden is full of plants and flowers it was the perfect location to play with depth of field and foreground blur!
ISO 640 / 1/400 sec / f/2.8
At one point during the evening this beautiful reflection of the gazebo showed. Because I love foreground blur I combined this with a reflection!
ISO 640 / 1/400 sec / f.2,8
Here is another stone structure in the garden creatively composed with foreground blur to make it more interesting.
ISO 640 / 1/400 sec / f/2.8
To get this shot I setup my Manfrotto Tripod at the end of the bridge and set my Olympus EM1 Mark II to continuous. It was set to 10 frames every .5 seconds but I could have bumped it down to 5 frames.
ISO 640 / 1/640 sec / f/2.8
Tips for visiting Kasugai Gardens:
It is not pet-friendly
Come early in the morning when it opens or right before it closes (Kasugai Gardens is located in downtown Kelowna so even though the garden isn’t overwhelmed with people the downtown core can be)
Respect all signage before entering the garden and inside