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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting For The Light

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Waiting For The Light
A crowd queues up for the green light at a busy Manhattan interection

Waiting For The Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A crowd queues up for the green light at a busy Manhattan interection.

Perhaps you thought that I was finished with the photographs from our December visit to Manhattan. You’d be wrong! As I’ve written in the past, I love photographing in the dense urban world of Manhattan. In many ways it is the opposite of what I do most often when I head out to photograph in California and the west, where I tend to focus on the more-or-less natural world (though not entirely!) and work at a generally slower and more contemplative pace. Manhattan is intense, with people everywhere, and tons of stuff to see. Much of it happens so quickly that it is “shoot now or miss it!”

I made this photograph in a busy part of Manhattan — Broadway not far below Central Park if I recall correctly — and during the busy holiday period when tons of people are on the streets. I love the great American diversity of Manhattan, where you rub shoulders with just about everyone — rich and poor, locals and tourists, young and old, every language and ethnicity.

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.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Playa and Mountains, Last Light

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Playa and Mountains, Last Light
Twiilight winter sky above Death Valley playa and the Panamint Mountains.

Playa and Mountains, Last Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twiilight winter sky above Death Valley playa and the Panamint Mountains.

On one hand, I’m fortunate enough to live where I can get to Death Valley in a single day of driving. On the other hand, it is a rather long day! I was on the road close to 6:00AM. (Sometimes I leave earlier, but we were out the night before.) I don’t stop a lot on these drives, but even so it was close to 3:00 by the time I got to the place where I planned to camp… only do realize that this was a long weekend and there were actual crowds in Death Valley. I’m more used to seeing very few people there this time of year. This fact cost me a bit of extra time figuring out where to camp, and by the time I got that sorted out and headed out for evening photography it was pretty late in the day.

This is my way of saying that I had to make more or less a snap decision to commit to a general location and go there quickly. By the time I arrived there wasn’t going to be a lot of light left and I soon found myself photographing end-of-day and evening light. But what a beautiful sky it was! Desert dawn and sunset skies can, at least when there are some clouds, be exceptionally beautiful. I think one reason is that they stand above a landscape that is often stark and bare. (In the right conditions, that emptiness can be a canvas painted by this light.) On this evening there were a few clouds right above the Panamint Mountains, with one straggler stretching high into the sky against a lovely gradient transitioning from brightly lit clouds to the deep blue of oncoming night.

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.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

La Churreria, Dusk

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La Churreria, Dusk
La Churreria cafe at dusk, Nolita, Manhattan.

La Churreria, Dusk. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

La Churreria cafe at dusk, Nolita, Manhattan.

On this afternoon we met up with our oldest son, who works in Manhattan and lives a subway commute away, and we took a long, wandering walk south from Grand Central Station to near the southern tip of Lower Manhattan. Along the way we steered clear of the more major streets and often ended up on what pass for side streets. (Though most north-south streets in Manhattan or fairly well-traveled.) As we walked on this winter afternoon the light gradually shifted over toward evening, and by the time I made this photograph it was twilight.

Logically, the scene is perhaps nothing special and probably not all that different from a thousand other similar scenes throughout Manhattan — a somewhat grimy (at least to those of us from other places) street lined with lots of interesting little shops, where evening lights were coming on and casting an inviting glow onto the sidewalk. I regret not stopping here to grab a churro after reading about the place a bit after we returned home — it turns out that they had a take-out window, so we could have paused on our walk.

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.

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

Geology Lesson

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Geology Lesson
Colorful eroded formation in Death Valley National Park

Geology Lesson. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful eroded formation in Death Valley National Park.

The title of this photograph is offered with tongue somewhat in cheek… since I would not be the first person you would go to for a real geology lesson, nor for an accurate description of the objective facts that would account for these remarkable formations. I understand that the material was layered a very long time ago, and that additional colors may have been added over time. Eventually the strata were distorted and twisted and then exposed, where the elements began a process of eroding material away and creating the sculpted effects we see today.

Regardless of the explanation, almost everything about this place and places like it evokes wonder: the striking patterns of uplifted and twisted strata, the unusual patterns of colorful material, the subtle curves of the gully that rises and then turn left, and the details visible in the soft 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.

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