On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I returned to The Huntington with my infrared and visual cameras to capture some of the expanded Chinese garden in infrared. I had hoped for a bit more cloud cover since that makes for more interesting IR shots, but since tickets must be selected ahead of time that’s not always possible. I started off in the older portion of the Chinese garden and moved to the northern expansion. I then moved up the hill at the western side of the expanded garden and was fortunate to have little haze in the sky for a clear view of the San Gabriels. I ventured over to the Japanese garden to get a few shots there. Generally I don’t like the Japanese garden for infrared due to too much foliage, but a good composition can be had by the little pond.
Looking across the Lake of Reflected Fragrance we see the Waveless Boat on the left and Clear and Transcendent on the right at the north side of the lake.
Looking across the Court of the Assembled Worthies is the Flowery Brush Library.
The Flowery Brush Library and the Court of Assembled Worthies from Clear and Transcendent.
Bridge of the Joy of Fish in the foreground and the Jade Ribbon Bridge in the background span the Lake of Reflected Fragrance.
Looking into the Cloudy Forest Court you can see a rock sculpture and one of the cloud walls behind it.
From the Stargazing Tower you can see the Lake of Reflected Fragrance with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. The bright white spot on the mountains at the center of the picture is the solar observatory on Mt. Wilson.
The Plantain Court is named for it’s banana trees. The Studio of Pure Scents is on the right and the Hall of the Jade Camellia is on the left.
Looking across the pond to the bridge in the Japanese Garden.
J R in WV
As usual, your photo essays amaze me. Almost as amazing as the Garden, which we missed the one time we visited LA… At least we caught the Getty on the mountain top…
Thanks again for sharing these with us.
I’m awake, have been waiting for time to take my next meds so as to then go back to bed. Don’t want to take them too early, no point in going back to bed for an hour and then being late with them.
I started a carpentry project yesterday, badly needed repair and replace, and am stiff and sore from unaccustomed movement and hard work. I tried to retire from that kind of thing, but you can’t hire people to do that kind of work any more.
My friends who did that work with me in the past are all at least as old and worn as I am. So there I am, using the power tools on the little bridge which needs a new deck before someone (me or the wife!) puts a foot through the old boards. And it was 80+ outside yesterday, in November…
ETA: First!
Jerzy Russian
I did not know Mount Wilson was (relatively) close to the Huntington Gardens. The view of LA from the observatory at night is something else.
Mary G
Mt. Wilson keeps escaping the fires by the skin of its teeth, glad it’s still hanging in. It cracks me up that you’re complaining of too much foliage in a botanical garden, Bill. The new construction looks lovely and the names of the spaces are very evocative.
JPL
The gardens are amazing and I love the courtyards. You are lucky to live in an area with such interesting museums.
marklar
Just curious, BillinGlendale, is this with a 590nm filter? Are you happy with how that converts to Black and White?
Thanks.
P.S. Once again, sensational series
oldster
Amazing photos. I have basically zero appreciation for visual art — I’ve got the optical equivalent of tone-deafness — but even I can see that these are incredible.
cope
Very well done, serene pictures, very apropos of their subject nature. It seems to me that doing IR shots, it’s much more about the composition and you have really nailed these pictures.
Thanks.
arrieve
I always love your infrared work, but these are especially wonderful. They look like a magic country some fictional hero might pass through on the way to Narnia or Middle Earth.
SkyBluePink
Very ethereal and lovely.
Thanks for sharing your talent.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV: There’s so much to see in LA it’s hard to see everything in a limited amount of time, hopefully you saw the LACMA before they tore it down(they’re rebuilding).
@Jerzy Russian: The Huntington is about a block from the Pasadena/San Marino border, so it’s about 5 miles from the San Gabriels.
@Mary G: Yeah, Mt. Wilson dodged another fire. My “too much foliage” is specific to IR, you need non-foliage to break it up, otherwise you just get a bunch of white.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: We getting a new museum soon, the Lucus by U$C.
@marklar: I think all of these were shot with a 590nm filter, but I also shot with a 720nm filter that day. I rarely convert to B/W and even add color from a visual shot to most of my infrared shots.
@oldster: Thanks, the white trees do tend to shout at you.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cope: Thanks, you really have to look beyond the foliage since it’s going to be all white and get other stuff, water and buildings really make an IR shot.
@arrieve: Thanks, infrared really lets you play round with color in unexpected ways, lately I’ve been trying to emulate an old IR color film(Aerocrhome) that produces red trees. It’s wild!
@SkyBluePink: Glad you like them.
JanieM
Interesting and beautiful. Do you ever do side-by-side pairs, with visual next to infrared of the same scene? (Recognizing that I might well have missed something like that in the past.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JanieM: I did that with an OTR about two months ago.
JanieM
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks, Bill. And — wow. Either set alone is amazing, but seeing them side by side goes beyond the images in that it’s a great way to get jolted out of everyday complacency about seeing, and “seeing” things.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JanieM: Maybe I’ll try another similar set with some of these images.
JanieM
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That would be fun. :-)