Monthly Archives: July 2009

News, Site News

Sierra photographs on the way

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A few people may be aware of a series of photographs I made at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park last week, and some may wonder why they are not here and why they instead see photographs of things like urban San Francisco.

Patience. :-)

While I post some material here on the day that you see it – like what I’m writing at this very moment – much of the content has been queued up ahead of time. Since I knew last week that I would be away in Yosemite for four days I had about a week of posts and photographs already in the hopper, so to speak. The first of the Tuolumne photographs will appear here on Thursday if all goes as planned.

Photographs: San Francisco

Three Columns and Urban Trees

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Three Columns and Urban Trees

Three Columns and Urban Trees. San Francisco, California. July 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three columns and trees in an urban garden in downtown San Francisco, California.

This photograph was made while I was on one of my “walk and photograph” trips into downtown San Francisco. At this point I was wandering through a very busy, urbanized section of downtown San Francisco with my camera at the ready. As I rounded a corner of a building I spotted this scene with interesting morning light and a single person mostly hidden behind one of the columns below the trees reading a book. I quickly squeezed off two frames before a car entered the scene from a garage exit below the trees and other pedestrians began walking through.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog

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Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog

Pacific Ocean, Rocks, and Clearing Fog. Big Sur Coastline, California. July 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Offshore rocks and clearing fog above the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur coastline, California.

Over the past few years I have a made a series of what I think of as “minimalist seascapes” that feature mostly straight-on views of the Pacific Ocean along the California coast, often with fog or clouds and various patterns on the water. As we drove south down the Big Sur coastline last at the start of the Fourth of July weekend I spotted the fog starting to break up over this section of almost completely still water – and I imposed on my wife to stop while I set up the tripod and made a few exposures. (I make it almost a rule to not do landscape photography while I’m with family. My work habits would drive any sane person completely nuts!)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Equipment

Quick Report on Canon EOS 5D Mark II Battery Performance

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After four days photographing – in sometimes stunning conditions – in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite, it seems odd to make my first post about a technical issue. But, here I go.

People wonder about the LP-E6 battery performance of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera. While I haven’t conducted and “scientific” tests of battery performance, what I have observed thus far is quite encouraging. Over the past three and a half days or so I made 533 exposures plus a few more that I deleted in the camera. I do a fair amount of “chimping” and I used the live view feature just a bit. After all of that the battery life indicator still showed two our of four bars.

All in all, I think this seems like great battery life. Many 5D II shooters will find that one battery is sufficient, and very few  should need more than one spare. (I currently have one spare. Because of some unusual use patterns – including backcountry pack trips of one to two weeks duration – I’m considering one more spare.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.