All posts by G Dan Mitchell

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Heidelberg Zuckerladen

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Heidelberg Zuckerladen
People in front of a Heidelberg candy shop.

Heidelberg Zuckerladen. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People in front of a Heidelberg candy shop.

Today we’re back in Heidelberg with a photograph from a visit about eight years ago. There’s a lot to draw tourists to Heidelberg and, in fact, the Altstadt has a jam-packed main street and the nearby castle attracts crowds. On crowded days it is still possible to escape the biggest hordes by moving a few blocks away, and that’s where I photographed this shop. (No, I never did get to go inside. Next time!)

I cannot quite articulate why I’m attracted to scenes like this one, with people spread across the full width of this impromptu stage. I’m fascinated by the arrangement of the people and also by the details the emerge when I look more closely: the interactions among the people in the group at the right, the person about to open the door to the shop, and face hidden behind the cyclist.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Alpine Lake Shoreline

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Alpine Lake Shoreline
Morning light on shoreline terrain at a backcountry Yosemite lake.

Alpine Lake Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on shoreline terrain at a backcountry Yosemite lake.

Today I continue the retrospective reminiscence, looking at a few older photographs made more than a decade ago at a favorite Yosemite backcountry location. By the time I made the photographs in this series, I had probably been visiting this place virtually every year for over two decades. Perhaps because it is the sort of place where you can get to high elevations pretty quickly, it drew me back again and again. Over time I became very familiar with the lake and its surroundings, to the extent that it became a sort of backcountry home away from home.

I would typically camp here in an area sheltered by trees and equipped with glacial rocks apparently designed with excellent sitting and cooking opportunities in mind. Over the years I tended to go later and later in the season, often making this the last trip of a season after the summer crowds had departed. While there are lots of photographic opportunities in the surrounding alpine meadows and ridges, I often simply got up and wandered around the lake in the early morning light.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Light, Alpine Lake

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Morning Light, Alpine Lake
The last evening light and reflections along the shoreline of an alpine lake, Yosemite National Park

Morning Light, Alpine Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last evening light and reflections along the shoreline of an alpine lake, Yosemite National Park.

Continuing my look back at backcountry trips that illustrate my connection with the First Light photographers group, here is another from the 2008 visit where I first met up with them (rather briefly!) in the mountains. My interaction with the group (who had been doing these trips together for something like seven years already at that time) consisted of two meetings. Although I knew they were in the area I had not seen them until my chance encounter with Keith at the inlet to an alpine lake. On the final day of my (solo) visit I took a short detour to pass by their camp as I started my hike out to the trailhead. I save the details of that story for another time, but let’s just say that I was impressed.

This photograph comes from the nearby lake where I camped for three nights on my parallel solo photography trip into this area. It is one of those Sierra backcountry spots that I have returned to many times over the years, so I’ve gotten to know it intimately and I have pushed out the boundaries of my experience here to include much of the surrounding landscape. On this morning I was focusing on the first early morning light on granite and brush along the shoreline, and on juxtaposing those features with the patterns submerged beneath the lake’s surface.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer

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Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer
Fog at the historic Battery Spencer, Marin Headlands

Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fog at the historic Battery Spencer, Marin Headlands

There are old forts and batteries all over the West Coast and especially around the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of them have long histories, though we tend to associate them with World War II, the most recent time when the country through they might be put to use. I know of a number of these sites, but I’m most familiar with those in the Marin Headlands, across the Golden Gate to the north of San Francisco. If you have visited a particular and iconic overlook of the famous bridge you have likely been near to this place.

It is one thing to visit these spots on a sunny day when they are overrun with visitors. But if you go early on a cold and foggy morning you may bet a better sense of what it might have been like to be stationed at one of these sites. When I visited on this fogged-in morning, I was attracted by the relationships and angles of the railings.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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