Join MAPS for an exclusive photography outing to the 13th annual Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum! Journey along a one-mile paved pathway of dazzling color, music, and light, featuring a spectacular holiday finale in the Gerald T. Donnelly Grand Garden. Because this is a special Staff Preview night, the grounds are closed to the general public, giving our members uncrowded access to capture stunning night scenes. Event Details Pricing & Tickets Registration & Payment Deadline This is a pre-paid event. You must register and submit your payment by the November MAPS meeting on November 9. No late registrations or payments can be accepted. What to Bring

In keeping with our monthly Photo Outing at the Arboretum, the theme for themonth of November will be “Textures Revealed” with the group outing on Saturday, November 7, 2026 from 7:00am – 9:45am. “Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” – Marc Riboud We will meet by 7:15am in the Thornhill Parking Lot where we can head off ineither a group or on your own. Be sure to dress for the weather and bring thenecessary gear.

Join the Morton Arboretum Photographic Society (MAPS) for our October field trip to Maple Grove Forest Preserve—one of the oldest forest preserves in DuPage County and a globally endangered ecosystem.

Join MAPS for our September Photo Outing to the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) in Union, Illinois! Covering over 100 acres, IRM is the largest railway museum in the United States and a living, working time capsule of American transit history. Participants should meet at 10:00 am near the East Union Depot (just inside the main entrance gate) to check in with Outings Chair Chuck Diewald. The museum exhibits and trains open at 10:00 am. About the Outing & Photographic Opportunities Whether your passion is wide-angle industrial perspectives, candid motion, historic textures, or macro detail, IRM offers an extraordinary variety of subjects: Admission & Ticket Information One general admission ticket covers…

In keeping with our monthly Photo Outing at the Arboretum, the theme for the month of September will be “Patterns in Nature” with the group outing on Saturday, September 5, 2026 from 7:15am – 9:45am.   “Photography helps people to see.” – Berenice Abbott We will meet by 7:15am in the Schulenburg Prairie Parking Lot where we can head off in either a group or on your own. Be sure to dress for the weather and bring the necessary gear. 

Join MAPS for the August Photo Outing to Ball Horticultural Gardens in West Chicago. The Gardens at Ball Horticultural have been the evaluation and testing grounds for the world’s wealth of horticultural introductions and improvements for over 80 years. What began as a row trial garden for seed varieties in 1933 has grown to encompass over nine acres of display beds for annuals, perennials, cut flowers and vegetables, including the newest plants from the industry’s leading breeders and marketers. See a quick tour of the stunning gardens. Participants should meet at 8:20 am at 622 Town Road in West Chicago, and see Chuck Diewald. Use the parking lot across from the…

In keeping with our monthly Photo Outing at the Arboretum, the theme for the month of August will be “Cast a Shadow.”

Please join us at the Chicago Botanic Garden Saturday July 25 at 7 a.m. (better light, fewer people) mentored  shooting session and feedback opportunity. Park in Lot 1, go through the Visitors Center (bathrooms will be open just inside the doors), keep walking past the Crescent Garden through the Esplanade straight to the brick portico entrance to the Landscape Garden. We’ll start the outing with taking photos in the gardens as desired. Roger will be available to help you solve the problems of depth of field and how to handle the background in the English Wall Garden from 7:15 to 8:15 and the Rose Garden from 8:15 until 9:15. If you want to experiment…