Thought I’d share the updated list of other places where I post, etc. on the web:
I find that it is always useful to have a lot of distractions on days when I have a lot of real work that I should be doing… ;-)
Category Archives: Commentary
San Francisco Muni, Evening
San Francisco Muni, Evening. San Francisco, California. May 15, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A municipal railway train passes in front of AT&T Park in the early evening, San Francisco.
This is another of my “urban landscape” photographs, this time of a passing San Francisco MUNI trail passing in front of AT&T park in the waning light during a Giants game. As I wrote yesterday, I always take my camera to the games since this ballpark provides compelling opportunities to photograph not only “ball game stuff,” but also urban landscape elements of the SF Bay Area ranging from the Bay itself to views of the downtown San Francisco skyline to more intimate views. (The equivalent of street photography should also be do-able but I haven’t yet had the chance to go in that direction during the games.)
This photo appealed to me as a composition of several elements. Obviously the contrast between the warm interior light of the rail cars and everything else is one element, but another is the fellow behind the window in the left center. (In some way this brings to mind for me one of the famous Edward Hopper paintings of the coffee shop…) I like the curved arrow at lower right pointing toward the train and the counterbalancing curved shape of the bit of rooftop at the upper left – with all of this built around the diagonals of the train, the sidewalk and road, and the overhead wire – somewhat interrupted by a few verticals.
This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
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News From Charles Cramer
I got an email from Charles Cramer last week, meant to pass some of his news along right away, and then became very busy and forgot. (My excuse is a combination of having a ton of papers to grade and about 40 prints to make!) Anyway, better late than never…
The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley is having a show of Charlie’s work through May 27th. You can see some examples of his work from the show here. (I’m fond of most all of his photographs, but the luminous photograph of an aspen grove found in this series is one of my favorites.) If you are in the Valley during the next week and a half, be sure to stop by the Gallery and linger for a while – if nothing else it sounds like a great way to spend some time during the midday non-shooting interval! (It would certainly be more edifying than what I usually do in the middle of my epic One-Day Bay Area to Yosemite and Back marathons: nap for an hour in my car!)
Charlie does workshops. He reports that almost all of them are currently sold out, but that are still some openings for a workshop in Santa Clara, California on June 26-28. Highly recommended – more information online. I’ve been fortunate to have Charlie share some of his vast knowledge of photography and printing with me, and I know personally how well he explains important concepts and techniques and how insightful he is when it comes to seeing and critiquing your photographs. He also has a great – though slightly twisted – sense of humor as well. If you have a chance to read his Photoshop Techniques booklet, you know what I mean.
Photography and Freedom of Speech… and War
Taking a break from the usual landscape stuff you’ll find here – don’t worry, it will be back soon! – I’d like to draw attention to a New York Times article posted today: “Images, the Law and War” (You may need to “join” the site there to see it.)
I’m not going to take sides here – not at the moment, anyway – on the question of whether President Obama is right or wrong to withhold the release of additional photographs that reveal painful truths about our treatment of captives in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have an opinion, but I’d rather you consider the article and the underlying issues it illustrates for yourself. The article, in my view, does an admirable job of laying out the complex and conflicting values that collide in questions like this one.
It also provides clear evidence of the power of photographic images and their ability to affect those who see them.