California Photo Scout

Tree at the Huntington

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (short: The Huntington) is the former estate of railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), who left this magnificent 150 acre pleasure garden as his legacy.

With an astounding amount of themed gardens, fantastic collections and the Mediterranean / Californian architecture of the library buildings, you will find many compelling motifs and room for unique compositions, despite the crowds exceeding one half million visitors each year.

How to get there

The street address of the Huntington Library is:

1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108

From Downtown Los Angeles, take Pasadena freeway (US-110) to Pasadena. Follow S Arroyo Pkwy after the freeway ends and turn right on E. California Ave. After about 2 miles, turn right again at S. Allen Ave. Traveling on I-210 south, take the Hill Ave exit and from I-210 north take the Sierra Madre Blvd/San Marino exit.

CO: Conservatory for Botanical Science

JG: Jungle Garden

LP: Lilly Ponds

CG: Chinese Garden

JG: Japanese Garden

DG: Desert Garden

GPS position

• 34° 7’42.95″N 118° 6’40.18″W

How to photograph the Huntington Library and Gardens

Japanese Gardens

Japanese Drum Bridge

The Japanese Gardens is a skillfully prepared masterpiece of landscape design. The graphic features of this traditional garden lure photographers, who also appreciate the designs. The Huntington’s Japanese Garden is among the oldest in America. At the center is the Drum Bridge, by far the most famous subject, featured on most publications about the Huntington. Usually the bridge is placed in a larger context, which is why I chose this image, featuring a more intimate composition.

The bridge is located at the bottom of a small canyon, on the top of which stands a Japanese house with a bamboo garden. I had to use very high ISO settings in the bamboo garden, as it blocked most of the light on the overcast day. An image stabilization lens will be a definite advantage.

Chinese Garden

Chinese Garden Doorway

With 12 acres, the Garden of the Flowing Fragrance (Liu Fang Yuan) is the largest classical garden outside of China. It is the latest addition to the Huntington, trumping many other sights. Chinese gardens are a tribute to your senses. Incorporating the natural geology of a landscape, architects carefully arrange the scenes you encounter to reveal a story, like the stories painted on ancient scrolls. The view changes dramatically as you progress through the garden, revealing new impressions.

I suggest you just flow along, photographing whatever catches your attention. There is simply too much here to describe. Use the leaf shaped windows, round doors or pillows of a pavilion to frame the surrounding landscape. The architects already arranged the scenes for you, all you need to do is snap.

Library Exhibition and Science Exhibition

Edison's light bulbs

The Huntington Library holds 6.5 million rare manuscripts and 1 million books, including one of the original Gutenberg Bibles. If you like to photograph in museums, you need to be aware of the light. Flash photography is always prohibited to preserve the artwork, and light is dimmed for the same reason. You need to use a lens with image stabilization and boost your ISO sensitivity to 1600 or beyond to achieve useful results. On backlit subjects, such as Edison’s light bulbs,  you can get away with ISO 400.

Museums in general are more fun to enjoy without photography, since possible compositions are very limited, restricting your artistic nature. You should still see some of the indoor exhibits, as they are among the rarest in the world. I personally liked the “Beautiful Science” exhibit, advocated to scientific discovery and some of the greatest minds of the past.

Conservatory

Large Leaf

The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science contains interactive exhibits designed for children and has a children’s play garden in its backyard. The large greenhouse, filled with plants, affords you some opportunities to shoot plants, but the crowded space makes it hard to isolate a particular plant from the background.

Macro photography would still be an option, but it will be hard to set up a tripod in the crowded busy space. I found a few large leaves that looked good in frame filling compositions, which work good with strong graphic pattern. I put the leaf stem near the golden mean (similar to rule of thirds) from the top and in the middle of the frame. Centering enhances symmetry while the golden mean is pleasing to viewers.

Mausoleum

Huntington Mausoleum

Russell Pope, the designer of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., also designed this mausoleum, containing the remains of H. E. Huntington and his wife Arabella. The mausoleum represents a Greek temple. It sits on top of a small hill, overlooking an orange grove.

The white Colorado Yule marble contrasts favorably with the green lawn and a blue sky (that I didn’t see). Incorporate some of the surrounding trees in a wide-angle composition, zoom into the décor on the mausoleum or make the mausoleum the center of your composition.

More Gardens

The fabulous botanical gardens contain a large variety of themed gardens.

Desert Garden

The Desert Garden is by far the largest themed garden. With more than 10 acres of desert plants, collected all over the world, this is one of the most complete of its kind. It contains more than 5000 different cacti and succulents.

Look for clusters or blossoms that you can isolate to prevent crowded looking images. Use a long lens and shallow depth of field or a macro lens. This Garden should be best in late spring when the desert plants come to life.

Jungle Garden

A waterfall runs through this small mock up jungle that contains some interesting looking trees but does not hold much value for photographers.

Lily Ponds and Bamboo

The most interesting feature here is the bamboo clusters. Standing close to the clusters and photographing straight up with a wide-angle lens yields interesting results.

Rose Garden

Pasadena, world famous for its roses, is located very close to the Huntington. The Rose Garden at the Hunting is excellent to enjoy but lends itself mostly to macro photography.

Best Time of the Day and Best Season

You can visit the grounds year round. There are so many things to see here and so little time, that I suggest you stay from opening hour to closing hour.

Avoid rainy days and very hot days in the summer unless you only came to see the indoor exhibits.

Summer (Jun-Aug): Tuesday to Sunday:  10:30 – 4:30pm
Winter (Sep-May) Tuesday to Friday: Noon – 4:30pm
Winter (Sep-May) Saturday & Sunday: 10:30 – 4:30pm

Time required

Plan your visit around the opening hours.

Equipment

• Image Stabilization Lens
• Circular Polarizing (CPL) filter
• Tripod (I did not use mine in order to cover more ground during the short opening time)

Fees

The entrance fee to The Huntington is $15 per person, $20 on weekends and holidays. Considering the short time The Huntington is open to the public, this price feels steep.

Every first Thursday of the month is “Free Day”. You must make reservations in advance for this day (see below). Tickets go fast.

Difficulty Photographing

Besides the no flash rule at the exhibits, I didn’t encounter any restrictions. I could even bring my tripod.

Close Locations

• Pasadena
• Downtown Los Angles
• El Pueblo and Union Station
• Walt Disney Concert Hall
• Universal Studios
• Griffith Observatory
• Mulholland Drive
• San Gabriel Arcangel Mission
• Venice Beach and Canals
• Santa Monica
• Getty Center
• Getty Villa
• Queen Mary
• Belmont Shore

Useful Resources

• Official Website
• Reserve for Free Day
• Los Angeles Picture Gallery

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