Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountain Valley

September 12, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dry and rocky little valley high in the Amargosa Mountains, Death Valley National Park

I have photographed in Death Valley for some time now, and I enjoy the place immensely. I try to spend a week or so photographing there each year, and sometimes get there more than once. With my familiarity with the place in mind, on my early 2013 visit I started to think about a different way to try to photograph this landscape. I’m not sure quite where this will lead just yet, but this is among a few photographs that mark my foray down this slightly different path.

Photographs never provide the viewer with a complete view of the objective reality of the subject. I like to say that “All photographs lie.” In the nicest way, of course. ;-) What I mean is that a photograph will diverge from the real in two basic ways. First, there are non-visual aspects of the real experience of being in such a place that the photograph, while possibly suggesting them, cannot “capture” – the heat, the feeling of an early morning breeze in a desert canyon, dust, and more. Second, the photographer necessarily imposes his or her way of seeing the place on the photograph – realistically, this cannot be avoided. We choose when to be there and make the photograph, we wait for “just the right light,” we decide how to juxtapose and frame the elements of the scene, we determine what you don’t see, and so forth. If you only saw photographs of Death Valley, even the most beautiful and compelling work, you would see only a small subset of what the place consists of, with emphasis on certain “spectacular” landscapes and types of light. I started thinking that the appeal of the place is not limited to just those experiences in the familiar photographs and that, as hard as it is to make a photograph of such things, a simple desert canyon winding toward a rocky ridge is an appealing thing when you are there – so it should be possible to make a photograph that somehow conveys that. This is one such place; basically an anonymous bit of canyon and hillside in morning light high in the Amargosa Range.

(By the way, on the day I’m posting this to the queue at my blog – June 30, 2013 – we are in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave here in California. I’m sure that this would be a particularly unpleasant place to be today!)

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Salzburg Cathedral

September 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Salzburg Cathedral, in the city of Salzburg, Austria

While we stayed in the Schönau am Königssee area of Bavaria, we were very close to the AUstrian border and to the city of Salzburg. In fact, we ended up there on parts of at least four days during our week in Bavaria. Our train arrived at and departed from Salzburg, and on two other days we found ourselves in the area for various reasons. Of course, with our music backgrounds, neither Patty nor I could pass up the opportunity to visit the birthplace of Mozart – though we managed to resist the temptations of virtually all of the Mozart-focused tourist attractions, only taking time to walk past the building where he was supposedly born and then looking at but ultimately not purchasing any of the ubiquitous mozartkugeln, including the version that is supposedly “only available in Salzburg.” On the other hand, we were unable to resist the Salzburg “coffee culture,” which we enjoyed on more than one occasion!

The spectacular Salzburg Cathedral dominates, even in a city with many spectacular things. (If you look closely, you can spot a couple of the other church spires in this photograph.) The interior is, to my eye, astonishing, and I spent a good amount of time inside just standing and staring at the structure, the decoration, and the light. I made a few photographs there, too. It turned out that just the right viewpoint for this exterior view – in more than one way – was from a hillside terrace restaurant that we visited twice, sitting outdoors and overlooking Salzburg as we had late lunch.

Photographs: Germany

Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

September 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A ferry sails up the Neckar River past the Heidelberg altstadt, Germany

I grabbed this shot while walking across a bridge over the Neckar that crossed between the part of Heidelberg where we were staying and the Hauptstrasse area with all of its commotion and shops. In a case of very lucky timing, the boat emerged from beneath the bridge just as we happened to walk across. I think it is some sort of tourist cruise, judging by the activities that appeared to be taking place on board.

When I look at this photograph, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “postcard.” :-) The scene looks up the section of the river that passes by the old town section of Heidelberg, with its very narrow streets, shops and restaurants and the castle on the green hills above the town. The boat thoughtfully points right into the scene! We spent a total of a week or so here, in two segments separated by a week in Bavaria, and because of that and because we have relatives there with whom we stayed (thanks, Greg and Jan!) the town of Heidelberg began to feel like our home in Germany.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria

Hohenwerfen Castle

September 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hohenwerfen Castle stands on a hill above Werfen, Austria, in the Salzach Valley with the alps as a backdrop.

This castle has an almost “fairytale” appearance, standing alone atop a tall hill in the middle of the Salzach river valley with tall mountains rising on almost all sides. It is not far from Salzburg, Austria. From what I have read, the actual story might be a bit more prosaic, and there is even a hint that the castle may be associated with some grim and somewhat awful stuff in its role as a place where various people were imprisoned.

We had come here to visit the popular Eisreisenwelt Ice Caves, high up in the mountains above the castle and the valley. The castle is an obvious central point of interest in the valley, but perhaps because we had been so high up in the mountains I had not really thought to photograph it. However, as we came back down on the road from Eisriesenwelt to the valley, we came to a hairpin turn closer to the valley where we suddenly had an unobstructed view of the castle with the town behind and successive mountain valleys rising beyond. Although it looks clear in the photo, it was raining lightly from a passing thunderstorm and this made the light a bit more dramatic.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Desert Mountain Valley

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Salzburg Cathedral

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Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

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Hohenwerfen Castle

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.