My Trip to Nichol's Arboretum Pt. 1

Hey Everyone,

I recently took a trip to Nichol's Arboretum which is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's a nature preserve and park where anyone can go anytime from sunrise to sunset and you can see some beautiful and pristine forest, riverbank, and open fields filled with all kinds of flora and wildlife. It was started in 1907 as a way to engage and teach people about our environment and the beauty that we must preserve that's right under our noses. "The Arb" as many people call it in Ann Arbor, is a place where you can go and relax or work out as there are over 700 acres of gardens, trails, and natural preserves. It's truly an amazing place and I would like to show some pictures from my trip there:

The first picture is of the bottom of hill after the entrance and it's the first open field you come down when you take the right hand trail. The trail winds around the fields and as you can see it's absolutely gorgeous. The Kodak Tip that I employed was titled "Move it from the middle" and I used the hill and the trail as possible center-points so instead I moved them both to the side and it makes for a nice shot.



I took a second picture of a staircase that leads up to an observation bench and overlooks the whole open field all the way down to where the trail leads into a forest towards the river. The staircase is made of wood and is very picturesque. Another Kodak tip that I employed is called "Getting down on their level." It does not involve an animal but I made sure that I got an animal's eye view of the stairs by laying down on the ground and facing the first step and I think it captures the feel of the how steep this staircase is.



The third picture I was able to get was of 4 puddles that had recently formed after the rainstorm. The light was able to shine on all 4 and make them look as if they were mirrors in the ground. I didn't use the flash as I wanted to make sure the light from the puddles was seen as clearly as possible and it came out great. I employed the Kodak tip called "Watch the light" and it made for a very nice picture as the light bounces off of the water and puts everything around them in a darker contrast.



This place is a very beautiful and unique habitat because it has a large variety of wildlife including deer and fox but it also sits next to the Huron River which flows through Ann Arbor. In keeping with the theme of my blog I thought it was a very cool place that not very many people outside of the city or state know about and it's definitely worth a trip. A unique aspect of this preserve is that it's located right in the middle of a suburban neighborhood and many people drive by the entrance everyday and don't even notice it's there. It truly is a diamond in the rough. Here's their website for more information.