I was asked earlier this year to contribute photos of the Mesa Temple Gardens for a brochure about the Mesa Temple Visitors' Center. I didn't have many images on-hand, but I live close to the Temple and thought it would be easy to go there and photograph the plants and flowers. One small problem; a lot of the vegetation had been killed in some freezing weather several weeks before and had to be replaced. I visited several times over the next month or so and it was interesting to see the changes. The gardens there are always beautiful and the look changes several times a year, depending on the season.
     I'm typically not a flower photographer, and don't shoot many close-ups. This was a great exercise for me and I worked some photographic muscles I don't use often. Flower photography presents a lot of challenges, not the least of which are windy conditions. Here are a few examples of the images I captured.