I love jewelry from India! The bigger, the better. But what are these pieces doing in the Islamic collection? Did you know that large areas of India was under Muslim rule? The period was called Mogul or the Mughal Empire. It began in 1526 and the last Mughal ruler was overthrown by the British in 1858.
This detail reminds me of my one visit to Tunisia. I was only 11 and it was quite an overwhelming experience. But fascinating too…
This crystal vase is only about 10 cm. (app. 4 inch.) tall. It is displayed by the entrance to the collection of Islamic miniature art – my favorite part of the whole collection- so it took me several visits to notice it. Then one day I stopped to actually read the sign next to the vase.
It is indeed crystal but it is not made out of glass. It has been crafted out of a single block of quartz and in places the walls are as thin as a millimeter. Check the image yesterday to see how small the opening is at the top. This was all the opening the artist had to work with to hollow out the rest.
This is one of my personal favorites in the Islamic collection at the David Collection. I’ll tell you why tomorrow 🙂
Mr. David was a lawyer who left behind a substancial amount of money. Until his deathhe had mostly collected odds and ends from Europe. You will find a couple of beautiful paintings by Hammerhøj, but when the trust fund had a new man in charge he recognized the niche of an Islamic Collection. Since the 70’ies the fund has been buying up Islamic art and now have an amazing collection – all free of charge.
This image as well as the one yesterday are of the huge – whatever – that greets the visitor at the top of the stairs in the residential house that has been converted into the museum.
A disclaimer: This once I’ll be sharing images I know quite well are not as sharp as they could be. The lighting was difficult and I don’t like tripods. But I do want to share some of the beauty with you so please bear with me 🙂
We are very lucky in Copenhagen in having several fine museums that are absolutely free. Right now I’m in San Francisco and I keep searching for free museums but they are not here. Only once a month or so where the crowds ruins it for me.
My favorite museum in Copenhagen is The David Collection and my favorite part is the collection of Islamic Art. The next series will be images from that collection.
I think this image has the potential to be one of my favorite shots of the whole trip though of course it’s hard to say when we’re still at it.
Taking an evening walk at sunset by Mount Shasta I noticed two kinds of people. There were most of what I termed ‘yoga people’ but there were also two photographers – easily distinguished from the yoga people by the lack of dreadlocks and the use of shoes and vests 🙂 I noticed what they were shooting and quickly followed their lead before the light was gone with this result.
I admit I haven’t seen a whole lot of mountains but among the ones I have seen this is one of my favorites – Mount Shasta. It’s an old vulcano (another one) in Northern California. It lies by itself so it’s very impressive and can be seen from far away. There’s usually a lot more snow on the top but sadly California was seriously lacking in precipitation this winter, causing a serious draught this year.
I have seen both prettier and more impressive pictures of Mount Shasta. The special thing about this image is I was there and I took it 🙂
Crater Lake is a vulcano that blew its top over 7000 years ago, sealed the bottom with lava and let the crater fill with water like a huge basin. It is the second largest lake in the US. It lies in 2.5 km with the original crater standing 4 km. tall.
Heavens know I took a lot of pictures during our short visit but when I saw this one, framed on both sides, I knew I had my ‘post card’. Again I was using my new FX camera.
I got a new camera. Not a replacement but a major upgrade, from Nikon D5100 to D610. If this is greek to you, don’t worry. You can live quite happily, probably more so, without knowing about cropped sensors and full frame. Let’s just say that I am very happy, intrigued – and not yet able to figure out all the settings. But what better place to practice than on a US vacation. Because I have to figure out the settings to take the images I want to take along the way.
Here are the first few examples from my current vacation. I’m sure many more will follow in due time 🙂
This image is from the soaking pool at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend, OR – a catholic school from 1936 turned into a hotel, brew pub, movie theatre and more.
Karins Fotos 