- great work!! awesome!! - hock how & siew peng
New York Chinese Scholar's Garden - Roof Detail
A final look, this time from the outside, at the New York Chinese Scholar's Garden. My main picture is a roof detail of the outside wall. Seemed to be the perfect spot for a shallow dof capture. Well that's as shallow as I can go with my 70-200mm lens (at 200mm with f/2.8).
The view below is taken from the Healing Garden showing the Meandering Cloud Wall on the left, the Moon Viewing Pavilion in the middle and the Terrace of Crispness on the right.
All three of my Chinese Scholar's Garden captures got views from explore and explore frontpage. So thank you very much for your support.
The following text contains the same info as provided with my other posts:
The New York Chinese Scholar's Garden (寄興園 or New York Chinese Garden). It is a part of the Staten Island Botanical Garden, located in the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (opened in June 1999). A team of 40 Chinese artists and artisans from Suzhou constructed the garden.
Some History:
Traditional Chinese gardens go back almost 2,000 years to the Han Dynasty though most Scholar's Gardens date back to the more recent Ming and Qing dynasties.
A Scholar's Garden would have been built by a scholar or an administrator retiring from the emperor's court. It would have been an enclosed private garden always associated with a house which, in turn without its garden, would not have been considered whole.
This garden, designed and built by Landscape Architecture Corporation of China (LAC), is enclosed by walls, a series of pavilions, and covered walkways. These are all organized in an irregular manner to create a series of courtyards of varying sizes.
The art of the Chinese garden is closely related to Chinese landscape painting - it is not a literal imitation of a natural landscape, but the capturing of its essence and spirit.
The parallel could be drawn to a Chinese hand scroll painting which as it unrolls, reveals a journey full of surprises and meditative pauses.
The enjoyment of the garden is both contemplative and sensual. It comes from making the most out of the experiences of everyday life, as such, architectural elements are always a part of a Scholar's Garden.
The painter's eye must be used to lay out the main architectural elements - the wall becomes the paper the rockery and plant are painted on. The structures playfully rise and fall, twist and turn and even "leave" the garden to take advantage of and even create a great variety of beautiful scenes.
To paraphrase the 15th century garden designer Ji Ching:
"The garden is created by the human hand, but should appear as if
created by heaven."
Some of the elements found in the garden:
Wood - Nails or glue are not used in a Chinese garden. Wooden elements are
joined together using traditional Chinese construction techniques.
Rocks - In Chinese literature, rocks are described as the "bones of
the earth."
Water - The garden contains three ponds and one waterfall. Water is thought
of as the arteries of the world.
Plantings - China has contributed the rose, lilac, daphne, species of
rhododendron, and the peony to the rest of the world. Trees, shrubs,
and flowers are selected for shape, seasonal character, and symbolic
meaning.
Furniture - The furniture of the garden is called the "internal
organs."
Walls - Walls are strategically placed in the garden for design purposes.
Walkways - The curvature of the walkways offer many views and angles.
Pavilions - There are two pavilion in the garden. One is for the scholar's
study and the other provides visual access to various other scenes.
Xie - A Xie is a building one half hovering over a lake. The designs
makes it seem that the building is floating in the water.
Bridge - Bridges are often curvy, providing visitors a better view of the
surroundings.
Painting and Calligraphy - Paintings and calligraphy represent the garden owner's knowledge of
literature and art.
And a little bit about Snug Harbor:
Sailors' Snug Harbor, also known as Sailors Snug Harbor or Snug Harbor
Cultural Center and Botanical Garden or referenced informally as Snug
Harbor, is a collection of architecturally significant 19th century
buildings set in a park located along the Kill Van Kull on the north
shore of Staten Island in New York City. It was once a home for aged
sailors and is now a 83-acre (340,000 m2) city park. Some of the
buildings and the grounds are used by arts organizations under the
umbrella of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden.
Sailors' Snug Harbor includes 26 Greek Revival, Beaux Arts, Italianate
and Victorian style buildings. The site is considered Staten Island's
"crown jewel" and "an incomparable remnant of New
York's 19th-century seafaring past." It is a National Historic
Landmark District. (from either wikipedia or Snug Harbor Cultural
Center & Botanical Garden)
Comments and faves
Digital Agent, hock how & siew peng, laverrue, Daniela Duncan, and 109 other people added this photo to their favorites.
anadelmann (35 months ago | reply)
Chinese Scholar's Garden as seen from Healing Garden:
Thanks:
hock how & siew peng (35 months ago | reply)
great control on the dof, Andreas!! very nice angle taken to get such wonderful dof! great work and congrats to you on explore..
Digital Agent (35 months ago | reply)
love that selective focus, thank you!!!
Daniela Duncan (35 months ago | reply)
Awesome composition - great focus work!
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jdl_deleon (35 months ago | reply)
nice selective focusing!!!
Tattooed JJ (35 months ago | reply)
Your shots of this place are brilliant, they should use them for advertising it
pattpoom (35 months ago | reply)
This is a very beautiful shot.!!!
Great composition, wonderful shallow dof.
I wish you have a great time.:)
rist2796 (35 months ago | reply)
Fantastic DOF
am_kaiser ....wish you a sunny week!!! (35 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called The Golden Gallery (Invited only), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
wow..congrats on FP my friend....and this is a marvellous bokeh image.)
Ricardo José Maksoud (AWAY) [deleted] (35 months ago | reply)
Fantastic focus
Beautiful composition
great work
faca1009 (35 months ago | reply)
Klasse Foto! Schöne Unschärfen und Details!
Vainsang (35 months ago | reply)
What a superb control of DOF and smart choice on B/W
Vie Lipowski (35 months ago | reply)
Well done with the selective focusing. And great depth, too!
Now and Here (35 months ago | reply)
A beautiful depth-of-field shot, and it works very nicely in black & white.
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ken m photography (35 months ago | reply)
Fantastic!!!!
glaesmann (35 months ago | reply)
Prima!
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maios (35 months ago | reply)
great image my friend !!!!!!!
Sabreur76 (35 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called ±100 AШΑRĐZ or Less than «500» ♥ Crazy ♥ Comments!!!, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Excellent DoF! The selective focusing is spot on!
GOLD STAR AWARD (invite needed)
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ecco9494 (35 months ago | reply)
Splendid images Andreas. Awesome shallow DOF.
Mike G. K. (35 months ago | reply)
great detail, very well captured
Dusty Pixel (35 months ago | reply)
Great selective focus and intresting background details!
celllfish (35 months ago | reply)
Wonderful focus and details!
montecani (35 months ago | reply)
stupenda !
You are invited to display your image.
I wish I'd taken it!!!
Damn! I Wish I'd Taken That!!! - Invitation
Invited Images Only
Post 1--Award 2
Aamir Yunus (35 months ago | reply)
Spectacular!
Paco_MUC (35 months ago | reply)
Einmalig! Meisterhaft.
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The Neepster (35 months ago | reply)
Wonderful - I love all these.
)Jason( (35 months ago | reply)
Love it, great DOF!
Colorado Sands (away) (35 months ago | reply)
You have a good eye for detail!
Ireena Eleonora Worthy (35 months ago | reply)
lovely single focus point...great capture
Steve-h (35 months ago | reply)
Fabulous !!!
Shertila Tony (35 months ago | reply)
nice use of DOF
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_Zinni_ (35 months ago | reply)
Eine tolle Serie! Danke für die vielen Infos!!!
one42chrisp (35 months ago | reply)
Wow! Excellent shot!
gilberto.gini (35 months ago | reply)
gran bel particolare
tomas teneketzis (35 months ago | reply)
...Excellent view
your DOF is pure beauty !
GUNDOGAN (35 months ago | reply)
Killer focus..Awesome tones..
dwinning (35 months ago | reply)
It reminds me of shark's teeth.
dw ork (35 months ago | reply)
beautiful capture!सुंदर शैली के साथ चित्र हासिल किया !
Eyesplash (35 months ago | reply)
I like the focal point. I keep expecting it to wiggle...lol
Thanks for your wonderful comment on my fireworks.
natureloving (35 months ago | reply)
Superb capture my friend
gwiwer (35 months ago | reply)
klasse gemacht, wie aus dem lehrbuch für bildkomposition!
du erhöst deine posting-frequenz aber ganz schön, ich komm ja gar nicht mehr mit... :)
fpinho (35 months ago | reply)
very nice shot my friend
Katie-Rose (35 months ago | reply)
Lovely!
Great DoF.
chhayapath :-) (35 months ago | reply)
wow!
fabulous compo!
awesome DoF here!
chhayapath :-) (35 months ago | reply)
Please join us The Carnival
Terry Cheng (35 months ago | reply)
Fantastic DoF and tones!
jomak14 (35 months ago | reply)
lovely depth indeed! i'm sure this will make FP, as well!
Sellinstix (35 months ago | reply)
Sweet bokeh!! I love the selective focus~
atena-w. (35 months ago | reply)
Fantastic composition, nice color !!!!
Bas Mafait (35 months ago | reply)
Good focus. Great pick of subject superb shot!!!
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