Photo Imagery at Christchurch

There was certainly a lot to see at Christchurch and some of the images just begged for a more creative process to be applied.  Hope you like the results –

New Regent Street is a very cool section in Christchurch.  It has quite a few shops and cafés and the hop-on, hop-off trolley runs right down the middle of it.  Altho there still some earthquake damage, it’s more charm than damage, and I found it to be a great subject for a digital watercolor sketch.  This is the section of the street showing several shops.

Here’s one of the beautiful flowers we saw today, and this one really fit with this quote. It’s true all the time, but when I think of what this area went thru with the earthquakes, the damage and the deaths, this thought really becomes powerful.

Back to New Regent Street, this time to have a look at the open air cafes.  I know it was early November, but remember, that’s spring down in the Southern Hemisphere, and today was a great day to have a bit to eat, a cup of coffee or tea, and just soak up the lovely warm weather.

Here’s a more formal painting type effect of some of the lovely pink blooms at the Botanic Garden.  The fragility of the petals is accented by this effect and the image seems to reflect the soft breeze that was slipping by at the time.

One of my favorite things about the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch were the benches along the Avon River.  This scene just seemed to want to be more of a sketch than a photo, and that was ok with me.  I don’t know how to draw, but I could imagine sitting on that bench actually sketching this scene, in an artistically perfect world!

 These tiny little blooms were very low and close to the ground.  It would be easy to miss them, with all there was to see in the gardens.  But, how much richer my experience for having looked down to see this little treasure.

Enjoy!