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.

Wall, Window, Garden

Wall, Window, Garden
Light shines across a wall with a lighted window

Wall, Window, Garden. San Francisco, California. December 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light shines across a wall with a lighted window

In a way, I would almost prefer to not identify this location, even the city — but since it is my habit to provide some information I will confess that I made the photograph in San Francisco. I joined up with a few of my fellow Studio Nocturne SF photographer to head out into the San Francisco night to do some night photography. We stopped at two locations. This first one is actually a fairly well-known location, but I decided to mostly not photograph the familiar subject but instead wander around and look for other things.

Recently I have been doing a lot of my night photography, especially the part of it done in cities, using a small, handheld camera. I’m essentially able to do street photography in the (near) dark, which means that I can often work quickly and without drawing as much attention as I would with a larger camera and a tripod. This photograph, which seems more like something that would warrant the use of a tripod, was made in this way.


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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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

Wetlands And Sky

Wetlands And Sky
Clearing clouds reflected in the surface of a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

Wetlands And Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. January 1, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clearing clouds reflected in the surface of a San Joaquin Valley wetland pond

On the first day of winter, as this year approaches its conclusion and a new year approaches, it always seems like time to look back over the past year. With that in mind, this photograph looks back to the very first day of 2017, when we met the dawn of the new year out in the San Joaquin Valley, accompanied by a few good friends and tens of thousands of migratory birds.

This photograph comes from a bit later in the day, when the edge of low clouds was close to our position and the sky and clouds were reflected in the wetland ponds. There were few birds in this scene when I made the photograph, which is likely why I put down my “bird camera” and its big lens and picked up a smaller camera with a wide-angle lens to photograph this larger view.


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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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

Say Hello

Say Hello
A sidewalk display outside a San Francisco store

Say Hello. San Francisco, California. December 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sidewalk display outside a San Francisco store

The journey from yesterday’s “photograph of the day” (birds in the predawn light above Central California wetlands) to today’s photograph may rightly be regarded as an example of moving from the sublime to the ridiculous. But I think that the ridiculous is also frequently worthy of a photograph — though it may not be worth quite as many descriptive words.

We were out walking in downtown San Francisco, and I was in street photographer mode. I’ve actually photographed things in front of this shop — a liquor store — in the past, so I think that slightly off-kilter advertising is part of their plan. It may be difficult to see in this small on-screen jpg image, but there are some interesting and slightly odd things inside the store window, 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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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

Update: A Note About Comments At My Website

By default, visitors to my website are able to comment on posts and articles, and I welcome your comments and questions.

However, earlier this week a reader noted that comments had been turned off on an article he wanted to comment on. That surprised me, but when I looked more closely I discovered that an automatic setting was closing comments a few weeks after posting.

That isn’t what I intended… and I think I have now fixed the problem re-enabled your ability to leave questions and comments.


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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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