Category Archives: Tongue in Cheek

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife, Tongue in Cheek

Rabbit

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Rabbit
A rabbit sits in a Central Valley pasture.

Rabbit. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A rabbit sits in a Central Valley pasture.

I have encountered plenty of wildlife before — I’ve gotten up close and personal with black bears and other critters — but this experience was quite different and unexpected, and it left me shaken. At a place where I often photograph it is common to spot rabbits running around, especially early and late in the day. Mostly, they seem like they are trying to get away, scurrying off into the brush somewhere. Perhaps this one has been taking extra vitamins or had a chip on its shoulder about something?

When it did not run away, decided to step out of my vehicle and make a photograph — after all, I don’t have many bunny photos in my archive. The critter immediately bared its teeth, started hissing, and assumed a surprisingly aggressive stance. I was a bit taken aback, but not worried — until the bunny charged me, launching itself in my direction with the obvious intent of doing me harm! I had just enough time to leap back into my vehicle and lock the doors before its body slammed into the side! I’m going to have to see if the damage can be repaired. Don’t let this cute photo deceive you — I barely had time to quickly roll down a window and grab this shot before I was forced to drive off! It was an important reminder that any wild animal can suddenly turn into a vicious predator!

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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Morning Musings, Photographers, Tongue in Cheek

Morning Musings: Secret Lives of Landscape Photographers (9/12/14)

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Secret (Banjo) Lives of Landscape Photographers
Landscape photographers relaxing with a little banjo music. (L-R: Scot Miller, Charles Cramer, Annette Bottaro-Walklet, Mike Osborne, Karl Kroeber, G Dan Mitchell)

Secret (Banjo) Lives of Landscape Photographers. Sierra Nevada, California. September 5, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Landscape photographers relaxing with a little midday banjo music. (L-R: Scot Miller, Charles Cramer, Annette Bottaro-Walklet, Mike Osborne, Karl Kroeber, G Dan Mitchell)

I know the romantic notions about the daily lives of landscape photographers: days full of stunning golden hour light, incalculable beauties everywhere at every moment, the sublime life, rainbows, unicorns, etc. But the truth is more complex. Up before dawn and out into the cold without breakfast, shooting for hours until the light turns “blah,” then a long, boring midday period before the beautiful light returns hours later, then photographing into the frigid darkness.

It is often a struggle to find something useful to do in the backcountry during those midday hours. There are meals to eat, tents to tidy, and naps to take, but the hours are still long. We think we’ve found a solution. There’s nothing like a few hours of backcountry banjo ensemble music to make the time pass more quickly. Here the group nears the conclusion of the Adagietto movement of Mahler’s Symphony #5.

So, the next time you are in the Sierra Nevada backcountry and you pass a group of heavily laden photographers with tripods, folding chairs, and banjo cases on their backs, stop and say “hi.” ;-)

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.

Tongue in Cheek

B&H “Pi Day” Logo

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I got a kick out of this. Someone at B&H is having a bit too much fun on “Pi Day!” ;-)

B&H Photo-Video "Pi Day" Logo
B&H Photo-Video “Pi Day” Logo

For those few who may not know, March 14 is informally known as “Pi Day” in recognition of the connection to the 3.14 date – and it is also a well-known day for pi-related jokes.

(B&H Photo is a site-sponsor.

Tongue in Cheek

The Only “Wow” Lens

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From time to time, and perhaps more often than necessary, the forumtography question concerning lenses that produce a “wow” factor (and perhaps even a “3D effect!”) arises and leads to great long discussions about which exotic and expensive lenses will make any photograph into a classic.

There is only one such lens.

The only true “wow” lens, as any proper lens connoisseur knows without asking, is the 1956 39.5mm Heptagon Mega L v. 58 B (Czechoslovakia model) with the German manual extender modification screw attachment and the maximum f/1. 39 aperture and the unique crank-operated tilt-shift mechanism that was carved from ebony wood. The optical spatial construction of the crystalline substructure was temporally modified by skilled yet enigmatic craftsmen under the tutelage of the original optical specialists of the Third Order, each of whom spent at least 14 years mastering their art while performing menial manual manipulations and modifications of modular componentry that had been properly aged and then conditioned in alpine ice caves in order to ensure optimal thermo-stable meta-optical stability and compound image purity in the sub-atomic and meta-cognitive domains, with both affective and psycho-motor orientation.

The ineffable and subtle purity of the drawing power of this legendary optic can turn any photographer into a Cartier-Bresson, an Adams, or an Avedon, as the case may be. Although unbeknownst to the general population and only shared among the elect who have been chosen to experience the technical, aesthetic and spiritual perfection of the Heptagon optic and who are sufficiently suggestible, this is actually the primary causal factor behind the creation of virtually all truly great photography during the past 100 years. Some have come close, but none have achieved greatness without it. Why, the effect is simply magical. All I can say is…

… wow.

Note: If you are a new photographer looking for serious advice about lens selection for your DSLR, you have probably figured out by now that this article doesn’t provide it. (Actually, in an intentionally satirical way, it does address an important question about the eternal hope that magical lenses will lead to magical photography.) In any case, I think some might find the following earlier post useful: Beginner Question: What Lenses Should I Get?

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.