Huntington Photo Essay II

Continued photos of the Huntington Library where the wife and I were the guests of Gather's own Cheri Cabot.  While the first photo essay dealt with the Chinese Garden primarily...this will be the Japanese Garden primarily...

Looking back from the path as we were exiting...I switched to the Nikon D50 and set up for some infrared shots (IR) since I knew I was out of practice.  While they're not show stoppers, I thought some would like to see IR photography.  Here's a shot of a duck passing under the Chinese bridge...

And here's a series of 6 IR photos that I stitched together.  They get pieced like a puzzle and then merged and flattened.  IR photos are shots that use infrared light which isn't visible to the human eye so the shot must be set up and the camera focused before the IR filter is added.  It becomes far too dark after that.  Hence the taking of six shots and stitching them together.  Also, the shot is like a B&W except it is a Red & White....so the red needs to be removed.  After doing that, a light adjustment is required.  In THIS case, I added a blue cyan cast to the image because I felt it reinforced the tranquility of the scene.


And here is the reverse view of the wooden Japanese bridge in IR:


And the color view some requested of the sepia toned bridge from the previous photo-essay:

It was hard to press on with these wonderful views:


But we did head on towards the Zen Garden...though I continued to look back over my shoulder...


Beautiful trails and pathways...

Running water and creeks and streams laced thoughout the area!

And beautiful Koi (as well as a bunch of...baby fish....were everywhere...

Beautiful flowers seemed to sprout up everywhere...


The sound of falling water....particularly small amounts...seemed well understood by the designers of this garden.  They provided the auditory jewels that joined the scents and sights from this place and made the experience something far more than the typical garden. 


At the top we arrived at a lovely Japanese building, beauty in the minimalistic and asture rooms with tatami mats and shoji rice paper panels...one could not help but sense the communion with nature and beauty that the view would hold a person who lived here.


The lighting was variable and somewhat problematic...but one can tell that serenity abounds here...


Alcoves with artistic displays...I was very impressed.  And then came the time to cross the next bridge...where groves of miniature Bonsai trees and the zen Garden waited for me...


But that would be a story best left for a later time.  :)