Christmas Lights at Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens are a very popular tourist attraction near to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Every year the gardens are decorated with extensive lights, themed on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Around the gardens you will find various installations depicting the 12 days, from a partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming.

It can take a couple of hours to go around the gardens. It is often raining here, and free umbrellas are provided. While this can make for a somewhat damp evening, it does mean that the lights reflect wonderfully in the wet stone.

Taking virtual tour images under these conditions can be quite tricky. The paths are narrow and often full of people. It is dark and very long exposures are required. The best time to do photography is towards the end of the evening when the crowds have thinned out. At that time it is possible to get some stunning images, making for dramatic virtual tour panoramas as shown below.

Panorama of Butchart Gardens Christmas Lights supplied by Panoramic Earth

While these conditions can be a challenge for the photographer, the results can be dramatic and very much worth the effort.

Panorama of Butchart Gardens Italian Garden supplied by Panoramic Earth © Peter Watts

London at Christmas

Once again London has geared up for the run up to Christmas. Once again the lights are on in Oxford Street and ice skating rings have opened up at the Natural History Museum, Somerset House and other venues. The Winter Wonderland has arrived in Hyde Park and thousands of people our out to find various Christmas shopping bargains, enjoy the rides or relax at the Bavarian Village (shown below).

Panorama of Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland Bavarian Village supplied by Panoramic Earth

Every year just before Christmas Oxford Street and Regent Street are closed to traffic, and them promptly fill with tens of thousands of people who descend on the shops. One of the busiest shopping days of the year, it is accompanied by various street entertainment, rides and music, making for a festive atmosphere.

Panorama of Regent Street Christmas Lights 2011 supplied by Panoramic Earth

And yet in the midst of it all on wonders if the Christian meaning behind Christmas has somehow been lost.