Chris_Malcolm
Romanesco, the mathematical vegetable
Fascination with the golden section and its strangely recursive nature is very old and has a long history. It features prominently in some very ancient monuments, such as the Great Pyramid. Fibonacci gave us his famous series in the 12th century. Mandelbrot's fractal dimensionality and recursive self similarities are only half a century old.
So where did this strange creature come from? It's named after the region of Italy in which it was first grown and used. Whether it's a natural variety or a cultivated hybrid is not known. Below is a link to an excellent essay on its gastronomic and mathematical delights by writer Sally Levitt Steinberg.
artsfuse.org/5365/food-muse-resplendent-romanesco-rhapsody/
While it's easy enough to cook it, e.g. like its relatives broccoli or cauliflower, it's rather difficult to cook well in a manner which does justice to its originality and subtlety. The same goes for photographing it :-) This photograph is a draft, an initial exploration of the territory. I used f16 to try for more depth of field in such a close shot, well into diffraction softened territory, and with an entirely green image the diffraction seem to have given it a green hazy mistiness as though underwater. Perhaps eating it will help me to have some ideas about lighting it.
Original: DSC06077RWX
Romanesco, the mathematical vegetable
Fascination with the golden section and its strangely recursive nature is very old and has a long history. It features prominently in some very ancient monuments, such as the Great Pyramid. Fibonacci gave us his famous series in the 12th century. Mandelbrot's fractal dimensionality and recursive self similarities are only half a century old.
So where did this strange creature come from? It's named after the region of Italy in which it was first grown and used. Whether it's a natural variety or a cultivated hybrid is not known. Below is a link to an excellent essay on its gastronomic and mathematical delights by writer Sally Levitt Steinberg.
artsfuse.org/5365/food-muse-resplendent-romanesco-rhapsody/
While it's easy enough to cook it, e.g. like its relatives broccoli or cauliflower, it's rather difficult to cook well in a manner which does justice to its originality and subtlety. The same goes for photographing it :-) This photograph is a draft, an initial exploration of the territory. I used f16 to try for more depth of field in such a close shot, well into diffraction softened territory, and with an entirely green image the diffraction seem to have given it a green hazy mistiness as though underwater. Perhaps eating it will help me to have some ideas about lighting it.
Original: DSC06077RWX