Back to the university

 Now that we are officially done with spring semester 2021 (well, that happened last week, but I am savoring it and prolonging the feeling), and my niece has officially graduated from high school, and I am officially out of work and trying to decide whether I should apply for unemployment, I decided to return once again to the UCR Botanic Garden. I've been there at least a dozen times during the 15 months of the pandemic, and will likely return again and again, although it will be a much different experience once the university students return to on-campus, in-person classes during the week. 

I waited until about 10 a.m., because I was taking care of the kids. This meant I would have less time at the garden, since it closes at noon. No matter, I needed the exercise and the pleasure of seeing the views once again. Also, I took my Minolta Autocord TLR because I wanted to shoot a few rolls. Walking and photographing are two modes of exercise for me.

It was a very pleasant day, and there was plenty of parking in the lot. This is not always the case. The cost is, as always, $4 to park, and free admission. I arrived and started up, because I had less than an hour and a half to enjoy the grounds. It felt very pleasant not to be wearing my back pack, since I was taking a small camera it was better to just carry it along in a small bag with two rolls of film. All of it was black and white, two rolls of HP5+ and one of Ilford XP-2. 

There was an Anglo man staring at me as I walked up, and I didn't know if he was angry. It made me feel a little angry in return, but I decided not to look at him and just walked by him. I went ahead and proceeded to do what I was intending to do, which was take a few photos as I walked. Also, it was important to look for new vantage points. I have photographed the same views over and over, but I wanted to try for slightly different views. 

It was a fun walk. This time I opted to just ascend and walk around the part with the open fields and the amazing view. The vegetation out here is really drying up, soon I imagine it will whither away in the heat. For now, we still have dry grasses, though, and the green trees, plus the hills which, as Julia Roberts sang in the famous movie, "...are alive, with the sound of ...." leaf shutters clicking on my Minolta Autocord TLR.

Here is a photo I took a few weeks ago with my 6x17 Kraken:

It was that type of day today as well, with the same type of clouds. The thing is, with my 6x17, I am using a red 25A filter, while with my Minolta Autocord, I was using a clear, light orange filter. The effect is not as strong, so my clouds were washed out with the Autocord, but what stands out, nonetheless, is that amazing lens. It is so sharp! Incredibly sharp, it is as special as the photographers on the online forums assert. Here are my photos:

The time passed quickly. After the elderly Anglo man at the beginning, I only ran into an elderly Asian woman who was walking back and forth along the upper paths. Her demeanor was quite different, she was very friendly and waved to me each time. I waved back and said hello.

Near the rose garden there were two graduates taking photos. This is normal at this time. I don't know when they will have their ceremony, but as I recall, UCR is on the quarter system, so they won't be done until mid June. I feel bad that their farewells will be disrupted for the second year by the pandemic.

So, I made it in the end. I finished my circuit and go to the gate by noon. I noticed there were other people who were still snapping away and sitting in the interior of the garden, so that tells me that the noon exit time is not a firm time, and they are flexible. Or maybe they let them stay because they were taking quinceañera photos and they paid a fee? I still had to leave by then, because I would drive back and then get ready for my afternoon doctor's appointment. It was a diabetes checkup but turned into a physical. I suspected it would happen. 

Tomorrow, I don't know what to plan.