Last week I did a bit of flying, first to the Midwest (South Dakota, to be specific) and then to Seattle before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area.

I’ve always preferred window seats – I love to watch the land passing below. I keep my camera nearby and when I see something interesting I photograph it. On this trip I flew out of the Bay Area in the early morning, so there was very interesting low light on the clouds early in the flight.

I also photographed some areas of Seattle on this trip, and I’ll post some photos starting next week. A few are fairly traditional “touristy” shots, but I’ve also been experimenting with some extensive post-processing modifications. Some of the photos are not at all like my usual stuff, but I’m having an interesting time trying out something new and learning more about PS in the bargain.

You may even get to see some of my “street photography.”

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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Being a California photographer, I was interested to see the announcement of a new online photo community, the California Photo Forum earlier today. It is truly a “baby community,” having been launched only about 48 hours ago.
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I had the opportunity to join Tim Baskerville and a great group of night photographers at Mare Island Naval Shipyard again last night. I had no idea there were so many folks doing night photography in the Bay Area – there must have been close to 30 photographers. Clearly Tim is the focal point for this group, nearly everyone there had been introduced to night photography through one of his classes or workshops. Visit The Nocturnes web site for more information.

We began at 2:00 in the afternoon with a daytime tour of the island. While it is now undergoing redevelopment (i.e. – real estate development) there are still vast portions of the island that are filled with old military and industrial sites and which make compelling photographic subjects.

After gathering to review participants’ photographs and then share pizza, the group’s evening photographic activities began. Below is the first photo I made, an image of the icon Mare Island smokestack shot in the last light of the day.

… I have a suggestion for Canon in re the “big” 20D/30D/40D question. (You know, the one causing untold neverending shuddupshuddupSHUDDUP existential anguish all over every Canon forum on the ‘net….)

The suggestion: drop it.

That’s right. Drop it altogether. Why does Canon need a camera in between the XTi (400D) and the 5D, anyway? Answer: maybe it doesn’t.

I was in Los Angeles last weekend for something at UCLA. More accurately, I drove my son to something at UCLA.

My plan was to drop him off for his event and then drive to the Getty Museum to do some photography. I’ve been there a few times and I’m intrigued by the architecture and the light. I had some particular shot ideas in mind, mostly involving low-angle afternoon sunlight. However, things don’t always go as planned… It was raining.

I had just managed to reconsider my goals and develop some ideas about rainy, cloudly shots at the Getty when I found out that I would not have time to get over there and back to meet my son. So, instead, I ended up with about an hour and a half to wander about at UCLA in the rain.

I started in the sculpture garden at the north end of campus and took a few shots there – nothing that seemed to go anywhere though. Then I wandered over to one of the older buildings housing, among other things, an espresso shop. I killed a few minutes there and then left slowly. First I noticed a very interesting set of stairs between this building and an adjacent structure – hopefully I’ll get a photo or two out of that. Then I saw this empty patio with interesting lines and contrasts between the white table tops and chairs, dark colored tiles, and the black legs of the chairs and tables.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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