Friday, October 06, 2006

Today's Field Trip: The Huntington

Today we spent a lovely afternoon at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, California. The Huntington is the former estate of Henry Edwards Huntington, who in his lifetime acquired a remarkable library and art collection.

The art collection includes the famed portraits Blue Boy and Pinkie, as well as more recent works by Mary Cassatt and Edward Hopper. I enjoyed closely inspecting a Tiffany Lily lamp, and we all especially admired a Remington Bronco Buster sculpture.

The extensive gardens included this lovely Hummingbird Gazebo:


The Japanese Garden:


A lovely quiet spot:


When renovations are completed to the main gallery, we hope to return and spend more time. Highly recommended.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That first picture reminds me of a movie.....

8:56 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed them!

Let me know if you think of the movie. :) The gazebo has beautiful red pieces of glass near the top (click to enlarge). It is dedicated to "The Tiffany Sisters," Helen, Margaret, and Georgina, so I was wondering if they were related to the Tiffany glass making family, but I was unable to locate any information about them yet online.

Laura

9:36 AM  
Blogger jau said...

I'm sure those are Louis' relatives. Jewelry and glass - what a wonderful legacy!

The photos are lovely. Did I ever ask you about what camera you use? I'm on the verge of going digital (ok, I'm a little slow on this) but overwhelmed by the choices. Do you like yours? The results are certainly terrific.

10:03 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

I have a Canon Power Shot with 3/2 mega pixels and a zoom lens, which I really like. (My husband is talking about upgrading to something with 6 mega pixels but I don't know how soon we'll do that.) It's quite easy and we've been pleased with the results.

I also still use a "film" camera -- I get "artistic" results, especially with the telephoto lens, that I don't get with the digital; things like being able to focus on a subject while the objects in the background are blurred. (It's possible with a very expensive digital, but we're not ready for the financial expense yet.) Some of the gardens yesterday -- including a gorgeous one with many statues and a fountain -- were only snapped on film.

On the other hand digital encourages things like experimenting with unusual shots (you can always delete them!) and is great for closeups and night shots. I love the "portability," being able to slip it easily into my purse (I used to carry around a disposable film camera for spontaneous pictures), and the "immediacy" and being able to share them so easily is great. I really like both formats.

Good luck investigating a digital camera, I hope you enjoy it!

Best wishes, Laura

10:20 AM  

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