Memorial Garden - Concord, NC

Located in the heart of downtown Concord, NC, the Memorial Garden is truly a beautiful place to go take photographs or even just to visit. You enter the Gardens through the first wonderful photo spot at this venue: the Front Gate.


You are able to take all kinds of wonderful photographs at this location. The rock backdrop is perfect to let colors pop or to just have a good time!

As soon as you enter the Garden, you see that this place also doubles as a graveyard. Don't worry the weathered and aged graves do not give the venue a completely spooky look. Everywhere you look there are flowers, greenery, and other sculptures.

To your left, there is a nice fountain with a lion head sculpture:

Just past the lion head sculpture, you will come to the Garden's most photographed area:

This tree trunk chair is a popular spot for everyone to shoot at least one photo. The chair is an interesting feature that you don't find most places.

Further into the Garden, you will come across a large fountain and tulip garden. Keep in mind that the tulips are only in bloom during the spring, but in the off season they keep this area well stocked with nice flowers.

Fountain with tulips

Heather by the fountain

Off season with no tulips

Also, adjacent to the fountain is a memorial area with another fountain, vines, and benches. My first visit to the Memorial Garden this area was being used by a bride and her family for photos. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo of their use because of the enormous amount of people they had accompanying them to the photo shoot.

Finally, this brings us to my absolute favorite part of the Garden, the lily pad pond. Every chance that I get, I take my subject to this location for a few shots.

Heather

Aubrey

The Memorial Garden of Concord has so much more to offer than what I've included as highlights here. With a little creativity some truly unique shots can be taken here.

When taking photographs at the Memorial Garden, be sure to arrive early or wait until later in the day to go. The trees cast harsh shadows when the sun is higher in the sky. Because the hours of operation for the Garden is limited, sometimes the conditions are not ideal, but this doesn't mean that taking photographs here is impossible. During my visit, at least 50 people were touring the Garden and taking photographs.

Family photography

Keep in mind that the Memorial Garden of Concord has a few rules for visitors that include staying off of the grass and out of the flower beds, as well as, no pets, no radios, and no touching the tombstones. These are only a few of the rules and prior to visiting everyone should read the complete list of Garden rules.

Hours of Operation:
Tuesday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Closed Monday

Be sure to check out this venue:

36 Spring Street SW
Concord, NC 28025
(704) 786-8009

Hurley Park

Located in Salisbury, NC, Hurley Park is the optimum place to take photographs, especially in the Spring. The park seems to go on forever with green walking trails and small pond with geysers. Overlooking the pond is a long deck with seating that brings a new texture into the background. As you can see in the background of the unedited photo below, a high school student was using the park for prom photos.

Trees shade the perimeters of the walkways and can add a new depth to your photographs. Sisters Angela and Heather Bailey took advantage of greenery.

Angela (below) found a beautiful flower to pose next too.

My absolute favorite spot is along the walking bridges. These bridges let you frame your subjects and give them something to hide behind if you want to focus on the head and shoulders or to combat shyness.

By the bridge, we located a interesting looking tree. The branches were perfect for seats and to get some unique photographs. I asked the sister if they would pose together in my favorite shot of the day:

Finally, the most whimsical part of the part are the Weeping Willow trees near the pond. You can utilize these trees as beautiful backgrounds or get your subject within the branches. Nevertheless, you can always use to the trees to take a break from shooting on a hot, sunny day -- that's what we did.

For this shoot, I used a point-and-shoot FujiFilm camera, which is a little different than the Canon Rebel XS DSLR that I use now. The camera was easily portable, but was overall slow compared to the camera I use now; however, I always grab my Fuji just in case I spot something while I'm out. It's always good to have a point-and-shoot backup because it's easier to toss in your bag than a DSLR.

These pictures are from my first ever photo shoot. I didn't know as much about cameras as I know now, but as you can see, you can still get beautiful photos as long as you use your imagination in your venue.

Hurley Park is a wonderful start for anyone who wants to take some photographs.

Be sure to check out this venue:

Hurley Park
302 West Franklin Street
Salisbury, NC 28144