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: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Beneath The Bridge

Image Leave a comment
“Beneath The Bridge” — Beneath a bridge, reflections from the water of a small creek on concrete structure.

This remarkable bit of texture, color, and geometry turned up where a creek passed beneath an underpass along a hiking path that I sometimes use. The patterns stopped me cold as I walked though this area, where I might typically pay almost no attendant to the photographic potential of the spot. The light reflected from the rippling water covers the scene with patterns that run in opposing directions. There is a right/left symmetry, but the tones are reversed in the two halves.

I usually carry a camera when I go out, typically a small one with a single small “pancake” lens. Most of the time I don’t even take it out, but every so often something turns up that makes me very glad I carried it. In addition, if you happen to be a fan of landscapes, when you open your eyes you may find that the “urban landscape” has a lot to offer, too.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Three Guys, Crosswalk

Image Leave a comment
Three Guys, Crosswalk
Three men crossing a Manhattan street, looking into the light.

Three Guys, Crosswalk. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three men crossing a Manhattan street, looking into the light.

One thing I like about photographing in New York City — or, for that matter, in any really busy urban area — is that challenge of picking subject out in the very dynamic environment. Once you tune it to it there are things happening all around you, often so fast that you barely have time to react… and you are absolutely certain to miss a good number of them. It requires a very different approach to photographing than one might use for, say, landscape photography. Not only that, but honing this alternative and fast approach, actually has benefits for other kinds of photography like, say, landscape photography!

There are so many potential angles that one can focus on when shooting street. It could be the people themselves. It might be the light. It may be color and texture. It could be compositional interest. Sometimes it is spontaneous relationships between elements that suddenly appear and this disappear. That was the case here. I already had the camera out and was photographing passing people when, for a brief instant, the three men in the cross walk glanced to the side at the same moment.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Sunset Light Begins

Image 2 Comments
Sunset Light Begins
First dusk color comes to the sky above Death Valley and the snow-capped Panamint Mountains.

Sunset Light Begins. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First dusk color comes to the sky above Death Valley and the snow-capped Panamint Mountains.

Like most photographers, I’m typically attracted to the most intensely colorful phases of sunset light. I confess! Those colors are hard to resist, and frankly I don’t know of any good reason to not photograph them. (The “problem” perhaps occurs when one thinks that is the only light that is good enough to photograph.) As a matter of fact, not too long ago I shared another photograph from this spot, made at close to the same time on this evening, that does focus on a wildly colorful sky, captured at its peak of intensity.

This photograph is perhaps more subtle, photographed when the light was lovely but not so intensively colorful. Anyone who has observed such a sunset recognizes that it in a constant state of development and change. Late afternoon light almost imperceptibly fades into early evening light, and eventually the sky’s colors begin to intensify. At the most transient moment many elements are in play — the east becomes more blue, the sky in the far west seems “warmer” and more intense by contrast, and the whole thing parades across the sky from horizon to horizon. Here the fact that the gaudy colors are suppressed seems to allow us to see more clearly the beauty of the gentler blue 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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Lady Liberty Of The Sidewalk

Image Leave a comment
Lady Liberty Of The Sidewalk
A familiar statue in a perhaps-metaphorical location on a Manhattan sidewalk.

Lady Liberty Of The Sidewalk. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A familiar statue in a perhaps-metaphorical location on a Manhattan sidewalk.

As I have described before, we like to walk when we visit New York… and by “walk” I mean that we only use the subway or other forms of Manhattan urban transportation if walking will do. As Manhattanites know, New York City is mostly a very walkable place, and it lots of circumstances it is the better way to get around. From our perspective, as visitors and as photographers, walking has even more pluses. I almost always have a camera out (attached via a wrist strap) or close at hand when I’m there, and I try to grab little quick vignette like this one while I’m on the move.

As with so many such photographs, there are many ways that you could consider this one. I would understand if you took a quick look and asked, “Why would Dan want to make a photograph of a scene like that?,” especially if you mostly think of me as someone who likes to photograph beautiful landscapes. This is not that!. If you like to look for meaning beyond the pure visual quality (which may actually reveal something about the visual quality that you would otherwise miss), I think there are quite a few possibilities here. Do you like metaphors? Have at it! :-)

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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