Christmas at Kew

WOW! what an amazing event this is - the sixth year of it's running but the first time I have been able to go. 
Not used to night-time photography but thanks to my friend Lisa who was amongst the small group I was with, I have some successful pictures.   Others less so but plenty to share! 
Sit down with something warm and comforting and enjoy.   Big plus, no rain (the last few days have been dreadful)  and milder temperatures..

you don't get my usual opening shot from Kew as obviously only the trail is open

this is the entrance, whilst we waited for Monica to arrive

you start by walking through a series of Christmas wreaths, ever changing colours

 the lights on the grass here were fast changing, like a river flowing

(before my camera settings were improved!)

this is the huge beech tree I was telling you about, lit by 30000 lights, each branch separately lit, took  4 people 8 days to do.

we are in this one, though the tree dominates!
l to r  Mary (my boss's sister), Lisa, me, Monica

(phone selfie)

 mistletoe benches...

 camera settings had been changed by now, so the kind gentleman who took this had more success. 

 glitterball snowman

Mary

 Lisa loves a selfie!

 this was the tree I selfied myself at last week in the then wet baubles.

looks like it's covered in snow tonight!

this was one of the bits I was anticipating eagerly.   the lake with the boats

multi-coloured, constantly changing lights.  makes photography tricky - you keep wanting to go back to the previous colour to get another pic!

 

they look less like stars at night depending on the angle you view them from

 this is a phone one - sometimes the phone got the better pic

took a little video on the phone trying to capture the changing colours

 the phone definitely won with the Firework Trees... the camera couldn't get these at all.

very clever

 from there you got to a walk-through installation

 and illuminated pattern on the floor too

 lots of the big trees were lit in different colours,
so much hard work goes into this event

 the cathedral.  you saw this in daylight (grey gloom) last week... here it is lit up. 

 you know how I love my closeups,

 I heard people saying it was a whale - you do get that impression but I'll stick with cathedral (besides, I read the sign!)

 couple of phone pics...

 it really was amazing. 










we seem to have lost Lisa....
it was quite hard keeping track of the 4 of us - glad it wasn't a bigger group!

 wishing stars..

these looked as good in daylight, although obviously then the oils weren't lit

 again, kept missing the colours I wanted; lol

really liked these arches;

 to the side of the arches was a champagne pit-stop but Lisa and I both spied these pretty displays.   I suspect her version will have come out better  (phone pic)

just round the corner from these ,  was the installation called "a burst of colour" .. you may recall the white flowers and stainless steel looking flowers... well just look at them now!

 through the trees

 I just love what you can do with lighting!

 Amazing.  the petals look like tissue paper, they really do.

I took loads on the phone too...

tearing ourselves away to the next section..










just in case you forget where you are..



although we kept getting glimpses of the Palm House (finale!)  I had got quite disorientated in the dark  so was then surprised almost to find we were now turning onto ..

the Broad Walk


this is a phone pic.... look quite good...

but no matter what setting on the camera, it couldn't really capture the effects.  There was just too much black sky


and I think I prefer them in daylight!!

and of course, a shadow selfie for Julia

 at the top of the Broad Walk we turned towards the Palm House...
beautifully lit - playing out the finale, laser spectacular...

again, the phone often captured enough light to get atmospheric shots better

  and little girls singing along to the songs from Frozen...



viewing points were at a premium but I got onto the platform and was eventually able to get to the front

you'll need to click on most of these to get a better idea!


you can see I didn't change lens once although I did have another one with me; but needed the wider angles

 anyway, back to the show.

 it really did look good... perhaps you had to be there! 

this is one of the slightly iffy ones but I still like the effects on the water.

 they were projecting images too but they were very fast moving and my camera was struggling sometimes to keep up

think this is the palm house projected in lights over the palm house... 

 promise you I wasn't drunk!  the man next to me was whinging about the flash being distracting so I may have switched programme here to a non flash one! 

 think the snowflakes on the Palm House were just fantastic.

 things with water...

 

still  juggling between camera and phone..

these next few are phone...

 

 it was all set to music, if I'd had a third pair of hands I'd have videoed it as well..

 back to camera

 snowflakes on the tower by the cafe/shop














just time for a quick shop before throwing out time

 it was still very busy in the shop (9.45 pm)

finally a decent portrait shot -
Mary, Monica, Lisa

Think it was safe to say we all had a good night!

Thoroughly recommend this event - but you do need to book early!!   
I think the website still has some slots free in January but you'll probably need to be quick!



thanks for joining me on my blog again, I would love to read your comments but please don't tell me what I already know, that some of my shots are blurry - you should see the ones I've left out!!