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: Europe, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Spain, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Rounding the Corner

Image February 18, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photo of a women walking on a darkened street in Madrid — “Rounding the Corner” — A woman walks around a corner on a quiet Madrid street at night.

Madrid is quite active at night — you’ve perhaps heard about the very late dinner hour there? We visited during the December holiday season, when the sun sets early, so there were even more hours of nighttime activity. I love to photograph urban areas at night, and these factors gave me lots of opportunities. Here a woman walks through a beam of light as she rounds a corner on a quiet street.

While it was possible to find quiet moments like this, many places in Madrid were packed with people during the holiday season, especially in the late afternoons and evenings. Major streets were filled with pedestrians and restaurants and bars were packed.

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 G Dan Mitchell.

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

Thinking Aloud

Rethinking Social Media

Image February 17, 2025 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

For many reasons that I will not enumerate here at the current moment, I am pulling back much of my social media presence. I have deleted the content of my Twitter account, and I am in the process of doing the same with material on the META platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

I do not take this step lightly. Over the years (almost decades with Facebook) I have built friendships on these platforms, enjoyed seeing the photography of many colleagues and friends, and learned a lot.

I greatly appreciate the thousands of people who have followed my photography on those platforms, and I’m grateful for their support, friendship, likes, comments, and shares.

A part of me feels badly about what may seem to them like I’m cutting them off. I deeply regret that, but please trust that I have principled reasons for taking these steps.

One follower wrote, “I’ll miss seeing your photographs!” But there’s good news! You don’t have to miss them! You can still see the photographs and descriptions and more and you can comment, too at the following:

HERE at gdanmitchell.com, of course. (Click post titles to read and comment. Subscribe using “subscribe” box below and on each page.)
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gdanmitchell.com where a dynamic photography community is building.
Mastadon: https://sfba.social/@gdanmitchell
Substack: I post daily substack “notes” with photos at https://gdanmitchell.substack.com/notes.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdanmitchell/ where two decades of my photography is available.

Hope you’ll follow me here and/or at one or more of these!

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Wetlands Sunrise

Image February 17, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bird photography is my excuse for going to this place in the winter months, but this winter landscape is the main attraction. I love what happens here during the spells of thick tule fog, when the landscape is obscured and the light becomes soft and mysterious. Here the rising sun colors the sky above the fog, which in turn makes the fog glow luminously.

To look at this scene, you might imagine that it is warm — at least the colors are! But it was a typically cold morning, likely in the thirties, with damp fog making it feel even colder. The fog had been thicker before the sun came up, but when I made the photograph it was beginning to thin. (If you look closely you may spot a few migratory birds just above the rising sun.)

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Central Park, Trees, Snow

Image February 16, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I seem to attract “interesting” weather when I visit New York City. Part of this may be my predilection for visiting in August when, as any New Yorker knows, the weather is atrocious. (There’s a reason that August is a traditional vacation month for residents of the city.) For years we also tended to visit over the holiday break, when the weather can be very cold, at least by California standards. I made this photograph during our recent December visit.

I have been told by people who live there that snow isn’t that common until after the New Year. But we had a morning of light snow just before Christmas. To be honest, it was a treat for us, and we went for a couple of long walks in Central Park to enjoy the wintry scene. The photograph looks through a grove of winter-dormant trees towards the tall buildings of Manhattan.