All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

Deals and Sales

Fujifilm Lens and Camera Deals (11/12/14)

November 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Those of you shooting with one of the excellent Fujifilm X-Trans sensor cameras (X-E1, X-E2, X-Pro1, X-T1) should take a look at the current promotion on Fujifilm XF lenses and Fujifilm camera bodies. The offer includes a bunch of desirable prime and zoom lenses, including some of the newest ones, with savings of between $100 and $200.

There is also a $100 reduction on the X-T1, the flagship camera from Fujifilm, and the fixed-lens X100S has been reduced by $200.

Fujifilm Lenses

XF 56mm f/1.2 – $849.95 ($150 savings)
XF 23mm f/1.4 – $699.95 ($200 savings) *
XF 14mm f/2.8 – $699.95 ($200 savings) *
XF 35mm f/1.4 – $499.95 ($100 savings) *
XF 60mm f/2.4 Macro – $499.95 ($150 savings) *
XF 10-24mm Zoom – $799.95 ($200 off)
XF 55-200mm Zoom – $549.95 ($150 off) *

Fujifilm X-Trans Cameras

Fujifilm X-T1 Camera Body – $1199.95 ($100 savings)
Fujifilm X-T1 Camera w/18-55mm lens – $1559.95 ($100 savings)
Fujifilm X100S Camera – $1099.95 ($200 savings)

Notes:

Links go to site sponsor B&H Camera.
I own the lenses marked with an asterisk.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Morning Musings

Too Many Utah Photographs? (Morning Musings for 11/12/14)

November 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Is it possible to come back from a place with too many photographs? If so, I may be testing that boundary over the next month or so.

My recent visit to Utah was very productive, and at the moment I have Utah photographs ready to post “as far as the eye can see.” Actually, to be more specific, through the next month (minus a few other subjects on weekends) already, with another couple of weeks or more of photographs of this subject still open in Photoshop.

This brings up several thoughts:

I do not necessarily regard all of the photographs I share on the website and in social media to be “masterpieces” or even my very best work. I do think that at a minimum they are worthy of a look, and I like to post them as part of my own review process. When I (we?) look at my photographs “in secret,” I see them differently than when I share them where others can see them — so this posting is a part of my own review and filtering process. (For those who are interested, they also probably give some insight into how and what I “see.”)
With a total of perhaps a month and a half or more of Utah photographs in the pipeline, I have decided to break up that subject a bit by posting completely different material on weekends and by taking one week in December to continue posting the work from my September back-country photography in Yosemite National Park. That’s right… there is still more work from that adventure!
If you are the sort who just can’t wait to see what is coming, let me share a secret. Before many of the current social media sites caught on, Flickr was the main place to share photographs online. I’ve been on Flickr for many years, and since I was already there I continued to post work there even after other sites became more popular — and my sharing workflow still begins with uploading to Flickr. So you can see what is coming to this website and to Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, ello, and Pinterest by sneaking a look at my Flickr photostream. Or not. ;-)

As a photographer who has so closely identified his work with California — the Sierra, the coast, the redwoods, the deserts, the Central Valley, and more — I’m still a bit surprised at how much I can “see” in Utah and how much photography I have been able to create there!

(The photograph is a sneak preview of one of those upcoming post— it was made in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of Utah.)

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment. Connections to photography may be tenuous at times!

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sunrise, Capitol Reef

November 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn clouds about the peaks of Capitol Reef National Park

Finding sunrise light like this is a matter of getting up very early, making some decent pre-dawn guesses about what may happen later, finding a good location… and a whole bunch of plain dumb luck. Oh, and persistence helps, too — if you are out there a lot you will inevitably increase the odds that you’ll encounter the very special light. But no one can call up a small cloud centered above a ridge lit by first light that also turns the distant clouds shades of pink and purple.

Our primary plan on this day was to take a rather long drive down the east side of the park, though the ultimate goal was a bit fuzzy — it could have been a slot canyon I know of or it could have been a higher location that I had visited before. We started out in near darkness from our campsite, crossed the park, and then started south. As dawn approached, it was immediately obvious that the sky was just about to do something amazing, so we quickly found a spot with a panoramic view in most directions, stopped the car, grabbed cameras and tripods, and hurried to find compositions that might make use of this light. Since most of the interesting geological features seemed to be a good ways off, I put a very long lens on my camera and focused on small distant details. For a very brief moment, just as the first light began to gently wash over the high peaks of Capitol Reef, this intense color came to the clouds and one small cloud became visible against the lighter background.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Strata and Columns

November 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

For years I have passed by California’s Red Rock Canyon State Park on my way to or from other places, most often Death Valley National Park. My winter route between the San Francisco Bay Area and Death Valley almost inevitably takes me south over Tehachapi Pass and then north, where the highway cuts through this state park. Every time I have passed through I have marveled at the beautiful rock formations rising from the desert and thought about stopping… but kept driving, anxious either to get to DEVA or to get home after a long time on the road.

This time we made a plan to stop, booking a motel in a nearby town for the night to more or less force a stop. We made a fairly brief visit, but we did go this time. This visit, although brief, may have finally cracked the door open a bit to the idea of returning and photographing here again. Being unfamiliar with the park I cannot be sure, but I would guess that this formation may be one of its “icons.” It stands in an easily visited location and presents a striking appearance. It also seems to me to tell a bit of a story. One of the first things that got my attention is the way that its thick band of red rock tilts the opposite direction from the similar rock in the sculpted cliffs that stand behind it. It seems to me that this piece must have dropped off the face (probably with a big bang and lots of dust!), landed in the softer material at the base of the cliff, and momentarily leaned toward falling over to the right, but then managed to just keep its balance enough to be locked into this off-kilter tilted position.

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 Photography

All posts by G Dan Mitchell

Fujifilm Lens and Camera Deals (11/12/14)

Too Many Utah Photographs? (Morning Musings for 11/12/14)

Sunrise, Capitol Reef

Strata and Columns

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.