Category Archives: Photographs: Southern California

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Garden Wall Arches

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Garden Wall Arches
A texture wall with archest next to a small garden, Balboa Park.

Garden Wall Arches. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A texture wall with archest next to a small garden, Balboa Park.

This photograph comes from a set that I made during a visit to the San Diego area back in 2013. We were in the Los Angeles Basin, and decided to head south for a short visit. We ended up spending time at the city’s Balboa Park, one of the most impressive city park sites I’ve seen.

At times we simply strolled around the grounds, without any particular immediate agenda. This gave me plenty of opportunities to play with photographic ideas that just cropped up — nothing iconic, and often more about shape and texture and color, as in this photograph of a section of arches in a wall above a garden and colored with both warm and cool tones of 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Interior Study

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Interior Study
The interior of a San Diego, California building.

Interior Study. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The interior of a San Diego, California building.

Photographs like this one are, for me, something like visual “palate cleansers.” It is really only about composition, shapes, densities, lines, and, of course, light. Whether you feel that understanding these things is central to photographs or, alternatively, simply underlies the other things that photographs are about, the fact remains that these basic visual qualities are a big part of what attracts many of us to the medium.

I’m not 100% sure where I made this photograph. I know it was in San Diego, and I’m pretty certain that it was at Balboa Park, and I strongly suspect that it was inside the Museum of Photographic Arts. To me, the photograph is a bit deceptive and is a bit more complex than it might initially appear. I’ll leave it to viewers to explore that notion.

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.

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

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

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sleeveless the Magician

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Sleeveless the Magician
A crowd assembled to watch a performance by Sleeveless the Magician at San Diego’s Balboa Park.

Sleeveless the Magician. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A crowd assembled to watch a performance by Sleeveless the Magician at San Diego’s Balboa Park.

This photograph comes from a visit to San Diego a few years ago. We ended up spending a good part of a day wandering around the city’s big Balboa Park along with huge crowds of other people enjoying the early spring Southern California sunshine. I recall that on this day I had left my big camera behind and instead was traveling light, using a very small camera and a couple of little primes, and having fun shooting street photographer style.

A big crowd had assembled along a wide passageway where a street magician was performing, doing tricks that seemed largely designed to appeal to children. I stood at the back of the crowd and made a few photographs. Rediscovering this photograph recently reminded me how much I miss the experience of being in huge, busy crowds in places like this. Yes, I like being alone in quiet places, but I miss busy parks, crowded restaurants, concerts, even airline travel. I’m looking forward to seeing life return to something resembling normal in 2021.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Oak Tree, Clearing Spring Storm

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An oak tree surrounded by wildflowers and new growth, as an early spring storm clears.

Oak Tree, Clearing Spring Storm. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An oak tree surrounded by wildflowers and new growth, as an early spring storm clears.

This is the green season in California right now, although our opportunities to get out and experience it directly are limited right now. While I can get out for a daily neighborhood walk during our mandatory “Stay At Home” order, that keeps me mostly within walking distance of home. There is spring to see and experience locally, but not quite the same way as when I travel. So for now I’m tracking my way through my raw file archives, roughly following the current season, and rediscovering photographs that I left behind in the past.

I made this photograph on a beautiful early spring evening in California’s Temblor Range last year. It had been a day of those wonderful spring storms, when light and shadow and showers sweep across the green landscape, one after another. Late in the day I went to this elevated location and looked back across a valley through this oak tree as the storm clouds began to clear from the west.

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.

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