Have you ever been to a place at just the right time and season to be absolutely blown away? That was my experience when I visited the Butchart Gardens for the first time.
I've lived on Vancouver Island my entire life, and yet I had never visited the Butchart Gardens until I did a solo photography trip there when I was 19 years old. I found out that the best time to go was late October, on a sunny day, as soon as the park opens in the morning. The reason being is because the way the light shines in on the Autumn colors at this time is just stunning. So I went, and sure enough; it was.
This was back before tripods were banned in the gardens, so fortunately I was able to make use of mine when I was here and capture some decent long exposures so that I could get as much detail as possible. It was truly beautiful, and honestly made me feel as if I was in a fantasy forest or something.
Later on in post-production, I aimed to bring out the painterly and fantasy-like feeling that I experienced when I was here. I wanted the viewer to feel as if they are looking at real life through the eyes of a landscape painter. I've come back to this image many times over the past few years, and this is my favorite rendition of it to date.