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Macros, Close-Ups, Pinholes & More at The Huntington Gardens


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:thu:

All I can say is WOW! I think you're supposed to be a full-time photographer. Your shots never cease to amaze me.

I hope you don't mind that I used "Set as background".

Although I took "The Desert Garden" for my background because it looked best on my 'puter, I like the Chinese garden shots best.

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You and anyone else who likes these are always welcome to use them for your background or whatever!! I'm extremely flattered!!! Thanks! The garden is really quite nice. This was the first time we visited the Chinese Garden even though it's been there for a while, but we liked it. It's still a work in progress, as they are still doing new things, but it already looks really cool!

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Great photos, Ken! And I don't see any obvious Photoshop-like enhancements! Which is rare among the photographers I know...

 

I love the Huntington. Been there only a couple of times, but I could spend all day in the gardens and come back the next day for the museum portion.

 

Our family had a medieval manuscript in our possession that my brother and I inherited about a dozen years ago. We thought, "Why should we keep this manuscript on our shelf? It should be a public thing." So we donated it to the Huntington. I had a blast taking it to them and doing a little research on it while I was there.

 

It's a 14th century manuscript (pre-printing press), all on vellum paper, with the wooden boards still intact, covered with calfskin. The Huntington had a 16th century printed version that I compared with our copy to see what sections were common to both, which sections were unique to either.

 

I've attached a couple of photos - the cover and page 1. The cover looks worse in the photo than in real life. On page one, if you try to read the first line, you can see the latin "Maria Magdelena and Maria Jacobi" start off the first sentence. That's of course Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of Jacob.

 

So it's a book of medieval sermons that follow the Church liturgical calendar. Just the kind of thing a history major and medieval buff like myself gets all excited about....probably pretty boring to people with normal brains.:)

 

In Europe, manuscripts like this are pretty easy to find in various libraries or monasteries, but here in the US, well, hardly anything around here is older than 150 years except the dirt and Willie Nelson.

 

Anyway - the book is still there at the Huntington, and we're supposed to have the right to go see it whenever we want (calling ahead, of course!).

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Great photos, Ken! And I don't see any obvious Photoshop-like enhancements! Which is rare among the photographers I know...


I love the Huntington. Been there only a couple of times, but I could spend all day in the gardens and come back the next day for the museum portion.


Our family had a medieval manuscript in our possession that my brother and I inherited about a dozen years ago. We thought, "Why should we keep this manuscript on our shelf? It should be a public thing." So we donated it to the Huntington. I had a blast taking it to them and doing a little research on it while I was there.


It's a 14th century manuscript (pre-printing press), all on vellum paper, with the wooden boards still intact, covered with calfskin. The Huntington had a 16th century printed version that I compared with our copy to see what sections were common to both, which sections were unique to either.


I've attached a couple of photos - the cover and page 1. The cover looks worse in the photo than in real life. On page one, if you try to read the first line, you can see the latin "Maria Magdelena and Maria Jacobi" start off the first sentence. That's of course Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of Jacob.


So it's a book of medieval sermons that follow the Church liturgical calendar. Just the kind of thing a history major and medieval buff like myself gets all excited about....probably pretty boring to people with normal brains.
:)

In Europe, manuscripts like this are pretty easy to find in various libraries or monasteries, but here in the US, well, hardly anything around here is older than 150 years except the dirt and Willie Nelson.


Anyway - the book is still there at the Huntington, and we're supposed to have the right to go see it whenever we want (calling ahead, of course!).

 

Nat, this is fascinating. Any idea what its country of origin was?

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One of my relatives (deceased some years now) was a lieutenant in WWII, driving a truck through Germany in the occupational march to Berlin. As he used to tell the story, he found the book in the ruins of a bombed out, burned out manor house somewhere along the route.

 

Soldiers in on the occupation, as is universal with all soldiers in all wars, got sticky fingers and things they "found" would end up in dufflebags and empty ammo cases and footlockers. A lot of wine cellars were emptied of their contents, and a lot of local girls lost something, too. The MPs came along after a while and did what they could, prying this and that away from the GIs. "No, you cannot keep the Mercedes that you 'found'" and so on....

 

I suppose my relative's book didn't look like much and made it back with him to the States. There was a list of items that were officially recognized as spoils of war that soldiers could legally walk off with (we've got a stash in a box in the attic of Nazi medals, insignias, helmets, a luger and a rifle, a really mean-looking knife that would impress an Inglourious Bastard) - they must have figured the book fell into that category. I'm sure it was a pretty loose process with a lot of looking the other way and endless grey areas.

 

Our book turned out to be no great treasure in monetary terms, but was quite a relic to have around the house, and eventually became a welcome charitable tax deduction. But there are fascinating stories of WWII vets who came away with some truly serious loot during the war. As that generation has been dying off and boomers are inheriting whatever grandpa had stashed in the attic - a lot has come to light.

 

Here's link to one that involved a Texas soldier that I was reading about when it first hit the legal publications in the 80s...American soldier stationed to guard a mine where a church had stashed an insanely valuable collection of objects as protection against the bombing and the looters - well, this Texas boy managed to get away with a bunch of it and hide it all in his small town, selling some off now and then. Authorities had pretty much given it all up as lost, when it turned up after the old boy died, and it wasn't long before the IRS, the German Embassy, Interpol, the FBI, and similar other fine, fun folks made a beeline for that small Texas town. A big settlement of cash to the family put the whole thing to rest with the return of the goods and no one in too much trouble, although there were some shenanigans by the family and their attorney that make interesting reading...

 

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/QQ/kjqem.html

 

There was a Texas Monthly article on all this, too - August 1990.

 

 

nat whilk ii

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One of my relatives (deceased some years now) was a lieutenant in WWII, driving a truck through Germany in the occupational march to Berlin. As he used to tell the story, he found the book in the ruins of a bombed out, burned out manor house somewhere along the route.


Soldiers in on the occupation, as is universal with all soldiers in all wars, got sticky fingers and things they "found" would end up in dufflebags and empty ammo cases and footlockers. A lot of wine cellars were emptied of their contents, and a lot of local girls lost something, too. The MPs came along after a while and did what they could, prying this and that away from the GIs. "No, you cannot keep the Mercedes that you 'found'" and so on....


I suppose my relative's book didn't look like much and made it back with him to the States. There was a list of items that were officially recognized as spoils of war that soldiers could legally walk off with (we've got a stash in a box in the attic of Nazi medals, insignias, helmets, a luger and a rifle, a really mean-looking knife that would impress an Inglourious Bastard) - they must have figured the book fell into that category. I'm sure it was a pretty loose process with a lot of looking the other way and endless grey areas.


Our book turned out to be no great treasure in monetary terms, but was quite a relic to have around the house, and eventually became a welcome charitable tax deduction. But there are fascinating stories of WWII vets who came away with some truly serious loot during the war. As that generation has been dying off and boomers are inheriting whatever grandpa had stashed in the attic - a lot has come to light.


Here's link to one that involved a Texas soldier that I was reading about when it first hit the legal publications in the 80s...American soldier stationed to guard a mine where a church had stashed an insanely valuable collection of objects as protection against the bombing and the looters - well, this Texas boy managed to get away with a bunch of it and hide it all in his small town, selling some off now and then. Authorities had pretty much given it all up as lost, when it turned up after the old boy died, and it wasn't long before the IRS, the German Embassy, Interpol, the FBI, and similar other fine, fun folks made a beeline for that small Texas town. A big settlement of cash to the family put the whole thing to rest with the return of the goods and no one in trouble...


http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/QQ/kjqem.html


There was a Texas Monthly article on all this, too - August 1990.



nat whilk ii

 

First of all: Ken, nice photos. I meant to open with that. (Where are my manners? :))

 

Nat, again, an intriguing tale, and that story about the Quedlinburg treasure was amazing. Sounds like that Texas family got lucky break after lucky break, legally speaking.

 

Somewhere, there's a Dan Brown-type novel in this for you.

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Great photos, Ken! And I don't see any obvious Photoshop-like enhancements! Which is rare among the photographers I know...

 

Thanks! While I did use PhotoShop to some degree on all the shots, they mostly consisted of the usual sharpening that anyone does - and I did crop 2-3 photos as well, I think.

 

Ironically, the most obviously "treated" photos are actually the least treated. In other words, things like the pinholes (the bottom five photos, which are the cacti from the desert garden) have almost nothing done to them apart from a little bit of sharpening.

 

Just like with the general philosophy of recording, I prefer to get it as close as possible with the lens. If I don't, then, sure, occasionally I might add a bit of AutoTun-, er, cloning or erasing!!! :D

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