Tropical Leaves. Pasadena, California. November 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Lines and curves on tropical plant leaves at a Southern California botanical garden
We were recently in Southern California for a holiday visit to “our kids,” and once the food-focused festivities had ended (though they never completely end!) we moved on to other family adventures in the Southland. On the day after Thanksgiving we headed up to Pasadena to visit the Huntington Library and its museums and gardens. I had not visited this place before, though I was well aware of the Huntington wealth from reading about the California Railroad Barons, composed of Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker, and Stanford, names that Californians may be familiar with. (There is a group of four peaks in the “Recesses” area of the Sierra that are named after them.) Suffice it to say that Huntington was clearly a 1%-er among 1%-ers!
We visited several gardens while we were in Pasadena. I wasn’t there primarily for photography, though I usually travel with sufficient gear of the right sort (a small mirrorless system) that I can do real photography when the opportunity presents itself. While waiting for others I happened to see these beautiful big leaves and I made a few quick exposures, including this one. There are many things to like about these leaves as a subject: The sit on a boundary between realistic depiction and abstraction of form and line, their color is beautiful, they catch light in such interesting ways.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Very cool Dan. I love the design of this image. Glad you were able to visit The Huntington on your visit. It’s one of the few places worth photographing in that part of our state. :-)
Thanks, Richard. It is a very interesting place, with lots more to see than I was able to get to in a single day.
On the day after I was there I noticed that you had posted some photographs of the same location. (Including one of a door with some ivy that I also photographed.) Were you there at this same time?
Dan
Yeah, I have an annual membership so I was there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. I go whenever I can. How did we not run into each other? I was with my wife on Friday so I didn’t have my tripod on that day.
Crazy — we were definitely both there on Friday. We started at the museum near the library and then went to the gallery where the Caponigro/Davidson exhibit is being shown, followed by visits to various gardens. (My wife does macro photography and flower photography.)
I was also without a tripod on this visit, since our main purpose was to see our kids. Too bad we didn’t see each other!
Dan
Oh ok. You were probably at the museums when we were there. We went to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens then had lunch at the Rose Garden Cafe before seeing the Davidson/Caponigro exhibit.
Sounds like we might have passed on a sidewalk somewhere since we reversed the order of your trajectory from the gardens to the exhibit. :-)