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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees and Peninsula, Morning Light

October 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light shines on trees growing on a rocky lakeshore peninsula

On many mornings during our photography expedition into the northern Yosemite backcountry, various of us found ourselves photographing this lovely little rock peninsula, with its well-shaped trees. In fact, at times I found myself looking to photograph here… only to find that one of my friends was on the rocks and photographing these elements close up — and who could blame them. In fact, of the three exposures of the island I made within a few minutes on this morning before heading off around the lake, I think that there are other photographers in two of them! Fortunately, this one seemed to have the right combination of light and form.

The peninsula and its trees are only part of the story here. There are reflections, of course, though I composed the image to minimize them to some extent. And there is the beautiful backlight fringing the needs of the trees, an element that I find hard to resist. I’m also interested in the more distant and higher granite slopes in the far background, on which sparse and thinning trees ascend toward an unseen ridge. The same light that backlights the near trees, also backlights the trees on the granite slopes, and it also lights the atmospheric haze enough to soften the features of this mountain.

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

‘Ello Ello (Morning Musings 9/30/14)

September 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

There’s a new kid on the block in social media land, and it is called Ello. I just signed up, and if you are an Ello member you can find and friend me at ello.co/gdanmitchell.

So, what is the deal with Ello? I’m certain that I don’t understand all of the ramifications yet, and I’m still coming up to speed on the process of determining how it works, the best ways to use it, and its goals. Here are a few brief comments based on what I’ve seen so far.

A deep and important underlying concern for users of existing social media networks has to do with how information about all of us is being used — basically, everything we post and view is the subject of data mining by services like Facebook, and at times the whole thing can become just a bit scary. Part of the premise of Ello is that it will not follow this path and that it will be open about how it operates. *
It is reasonable to ask how that will play out in the long run, as those who were early adopters of other systems such as Facebook recall that their goals also seemed entirely altruistic at first, and then they changed. I think that it is worth the “risk” to be in on the ground floor of something like Ello that is getting quite a bit of buzz and which may offer an alternative.
Ello seems to have a goal of simplifying and streamlining the process of sharing and interacting with others.
There are rough edges at this point, but Ello is also still in beta.

You can visit the Ello site and take a look for yourself — and while you are there you can apply to be part of the beta.

Note that I used the word “premise” here. I understand that other services, including Facebook, that originally appeared to have very altruistic goals, eventually changed those goals in ways that are not so wonderful for end-users.

**“La Sirena” has not yet been shared elsewhere. I made the photograph on September 28 while visiting a place in the Carmel Highlands that is important in the history of American photography.

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Subalpine Lake, Forest, and Ridges

September 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light on a forested subalpine lake backed by alpine peaks and ridges, Yosemite National Park

When photographing or even when just looking at the world as a photographer, there are certain things that consistently get my attention — and several of them appear in this straightforward Sierra scene. I’m a sucker for layers, and there we have quite a few: the foreground forest trees, the lake with its reflecting water, the forest rising up the slopes on the opposite shore toward a granite dome, and across a deep canyon that is not directly visible there are high, alpine peaks whose features are muted in the atmospheric haze. And, yes, that haze is another thing that I often look for when making photographs.

Like many photographers, I also have an eye for juxtapositions and relationships between shapes and angles and curves and lines. If I recall correctly, the first thing that drew my attention about this scene was not the obvious lake but was instead the relationship between the granite knob just beyond the lake and the shapes of the high ridge in the distance. In fact, I made a series of photographs of those two things at different times of day and from somewhat different locations. All of that aside, the photograph also portrays a more natural sort of light than the warm and saturated light that we often photograph closer to sunrise and sunset.

Commentary, Morning Musings, Photographers, Photographs: Photographers

Pick the Right Friends… (Morning Musings 9/29/14)

September 29, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

G Dan Mitchell Photographing in the Sierra Nevada

If you are ever in the wilderness and you want someone to take a photograph of you, you could hand your smartphone to the nearest person and hope for the best. However, I have a few suggestions (slightly tongue-in-cheek) that might improve the odds:

Arrange to be in the company of one of the best landscape photographers working today. (Yeah, that’s you, Charlie Cramer.)
Make a photograph of him at work and hope that this inspires him to photograph you doing the same thing.
Be sure to place yourself so that dramatic golden hour light hits you in partial profile.
Be sure to position yourself against an appropriate background.
Gaze attentively and thoughtfully into the distance. ;-)

Bonus hint: Be sure to level your tripod first, or your photographer friends may never let you live it down. ;-)

Here’s a photograph of Charlie at work, too

In all seriousness, when you are out shooting, do photograph your fellow photographers. Each of us needs photographs of ourselves, and a photograph by a friend (or of a friend) is a special thing.

Thanks, Charlie!