'Abdu'l-Bahá With Flowers

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This is the story of the image:

In 1972 I took a close-up Kodachrome photo of a painting hanging in the home of Margaret Gallagher, an Auxiliary Board Member in Hayward, California. Then I went out to her garden and saw the bright backlit red flowers and double-exposed them onto the same frame. I made two nearly identical slides but one didn't come out due to overexposure. Several years later I scanned a copy I made of the original 35mm slide at 5400 dpi (248 MB) and restored it because the original was damaged by by a flood. The painter's name was Samimi. Click here (download the PDF) for more information about him. The right half of the image consists of the flowers that I added when I took the photograph. The photograph was a close-up of the painting. The entire painting shows a 3/4 length view of 'Abdu'l-Baha. When I was on pilgrimage in 1972, I brought two hundred copies of the photo with me at the request of Hand of the Cause A. Q. Faizi. He gave them away during his many teaching trips around the world. Though he asked me to sign the backs of the photos I never did preferring to remain anonymous. Among my treasures are some hand-illuminated letters that Mr. Faizi wrote me in the 1970's including a comment on this image. You can find them online at the Bahai-Library site in an unpublished book of his letters by Shirley Macias. I give this away for free on a very limited basis. I do not accept payment for copies of this image. It may be freely distributed by Bahá'í's as long as it is not modified and the source of the image is included (www.enochsvision.com, Cary Enoch Reinstein). It is a copyrighted image and not in the public domain nor under a Creative Commons license. Accompanying text documents must not be edited or modified. Sometimes I make archival quality pigment ink prints as special gifts for friends and family. However, recently I've just been using the Shutterfly website to make prints. Shutterfly makes excellent quality prints. There are many other similar quality printing sites. There are two versions of this image as shown here. The first one has truer colors and shows the original canvas texture of the painting throughout the photograph. The second version has been retouched and is more color saturated. Choose the version you prefer and download either version by clicking on the image. Each 9 MB Zip file contains three images suitable for printing at high quality on standard size photographic paper. They also contain expanded commentary on the image including copyright and permitted usage statements and guidance on portraits of 'Abdu'l-Baha from the World Center. Download Download Use this link to download the PDF document with background information and instructions on how to print it.
Ministry of Flowers 'Abdu'l-Bahá's personal wants were few. He worked late and early. Two simple meals a day sufficed Him. His wardrobe consisted of a very few garments of inexpensive material. He could not bear to live in luxury while others were in want. He had a great love for children, for flowers, and for the beauties of nature. ..." -- In Galilee, p. 51. The "ministry of flowers" was a feature of the life at 'Akká, of which every pilgrim brought away fragrant memories. Mrs. Lucas writes: -- "When the Master inhales the odor of flowers, it is wonderful to see him. It seems as though the perfume of the hyacinths were telling him something as he buries his face in the flowers. It is like the effort of the ear to hear a beautiful harmony, a concentrated attention!" -- A Brief Account of My Visit to 'Akká, pp. 25-26. He loved to present beautiful and sweet-smelling flowers to His numerous visitors. (Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, p. 57)

In 1972 I took a close-up Kodachrome photo of a painting hanging in the home of Margaret Gallagher, an Auxiliary Board Member in Hayward, California. Then I went out to her garden and saw the bright backlit red flowers and double-exposed them onto the same frame. I made two nearly identical slides but one didn't come out due to overexposure. Several years later I scanned a copy I made of the original 35mm slide at 5400 dpi (248 MB) and restored it because the original was damaged by by a flood.

The painter's name was Samimi. Click here (download the PDF) for more information about him. The right half of the image consists of the flowers that I added when I took the photograph. The photograph was a close-up of the painting. The entire painting shows a 3/4 length view of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

When I was on pilgrimage in 1972, I brought two hundred copies of the photo with me at the request of Hand of the Cause A. Q. Faizi. He gave them away during his many teaching trips around the world. Though he asked me to sign the backs of the photos I never did preferring to remain anonymous. Among my treasures are some hand-illuminated letters that Mr. Faizi wrote me in the 1970's including a comment on this image. You can find them online at the Bahai-Library site in an unpublished book of his letters by Shirley Macias.

I give this away for free on a very limited basis. I do not accept payment for copies of this image. It may be freely distributed by Bahá'í's as long as it is not modified and the source of the image is included (www.enochsvision.com, Cary Enoch Reinstein). It is a copyrighted image and not in the public domain nor under a Creative Commons license. Accompanying text documents must not be edited or modified.

Sometimes I make archival quality pigment ink prints as special gifts for friends and family. However, recently I've just been using the Shutterfly website to make prints. Shutterfly makes excellent quality prints. There are many other similar quality printing sites. There are two versions of this image as shown here. The first one has truer colors and shows the original canvas texture of the painting throughout the photograph. The second version has been retouched and is more color saturated. Choose the version you prefer and download either version by clicking on the image. Each 9 MB Zip file contains three images suitable for printing at high quality on standard size photographic paper. They also contain expanded commentary on the image including copyright and permitted usage statements and guidance on portraits of 'Abdu'l-Baha from the World Center.

Original version
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Variation
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Use this link to download the PDF document with background information and instructions on how to print it.

Ministry of Flowers

'Abdu'l-Bahá's personal wants were few. He worked late and early. Two simple meals a day sufficed Him. His wardrobe consisted of a very few garments of inexpensive material. He could not bear to live in luxury while others were in want. He had a great love for children, for flowers, and for the beauties of nature. ..." -- In Galilee, p. 51.

The "ministry of flowers" was a feature of the life at 'Akká, of which every pilgrim brought away fragrant memories. Mrs. Lucas writes: -- "When the Master inhales the odor of flowers, it is wonderful to see him. It seems as though the perfume of the hyacinths were telling him something as he buries his face in the flowers. It is like the effort of the ear to hear a beautiful harmony, a concentrated attention!"
-- A Brief Account of My Visit to 'Akká, pp. 25-26.

He loved to present beautiful and sweet-smelling flowers to His numerous visitors.

(Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, p. 57)