Column, Wall, and Dying Tree

Column, Wall, and Dying Tree
Column, Wall, and Dying Tree

Column, Wall, and Dying Tree. Portland, Oregon. May 26, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The brown branches of a dying tree stand against a stone wall and column, Pittock Mansion, Portland, Oregon

This might be about as unrepresentative a photograph of the Pittock Mansion as one could make. ;-) Pittock Mansion is a historic location in the hills above Portland, Oregon. If I recall the story correctly, it was built by an early leading citizen of the area who ran the newspaper (The Oregonian?) and may have had interested in the lumber business. The expansive mansion was built on a hillside above the city, with views of three of the major volcanos of northern Oregon, and on grounds that included beautiful and lush gardens. The mansion itself is large and luxurious and was, for its day, very modern.

So I went and photographed a dead tree against a stone wall. What can I say? This section of wall combines a blocky section of the wall with a cylindrical column. Not surprisingly for the Pacific Northwest, moss grows on the rock, giving it the slight green tint. I think the tree is dying – at least it looks that way – and its odd color caught my attention.

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.

Window Shadows and Reflections

Window Shadows and Reflections
Window Shadows and Reflections

Window Shadows and Reflections. Salzburg, Austria. July 17, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shadows and faint reflections of a window create patterns on a wall in Salzburg, Austria

Although we did not actually stay in Salzburg during out July 2013 travels, we managed to end up there on four of our 7 days in Bavaria. Our trail from Heidelberg arrived in Salzburg and our return train departed here. On a couple of other days we were traveling around the area to visit various features not far from Salzburg, so we ended up there for a few hours – on two occasions having a late lunch, taking part in Salzburg’s “coffee culture,” and then wandering around. We did see some of the main tourist places, such as the square near the Salzburg Cathedral, the castle, and the narrow and bustling (and a bit uncomfortably commercial) streets of the old downtown, but we also managed to walk through a few less busy areas.

Some of these walks took us through some very narrow and old streets between the main part of old Salzburg and the outlying area where we parked. Here the buildings sit right up against the streets, and the streets themselves were obviously constructed in a pre-automobile era since they are barely a single car wide. Many things intrigued me about these narrow streets beside their mere narrowness: the various muted colors of the buildings, the ways the streets twist and turn and come together at odd angles, the interesting way that the light played on the scene as it came down from far above or shone down street that aligned with the sun, and some of the architectural features such as the windows and the interesting metal street lights that seemed to be everywhere. In this photograph the sun was rather high in the sky but almost in line with the street, and the image of the shadows of the open windows almost mirrors the fainter pattern of the reflections from the glass.

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.

Point Reyes Forest

Point Reyes Forest
Point Reyes Forest

Point Reyes Forest. Point Reyes National Seashore, California. May 18, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light in a pine forest at Point Reyes National Seashore

As I have visited Point Reyes over a period of years, I have often returned to the same familiar places – the “Point” and the lighthouse area, Limantour Beach, the area where the tule elk congregate, and a few other spots. These are areas of obvious photographic interest, but eventually I want to get to know a place better and to find other subjects. This year I’ve done a bit more of that – hiking some trails around Drakes Bay and Limantour for example, and trying to see the beauty in the pasture lands leading out toward the Point.

On many of the earlier visits I had passed by the turn off to Mount Vision Road without stopping, as I was often intent on getting to some other specific spot. Earlier this year, on a momentary whim, I finally turned left and headed up this route, not having much of any idea of what I would find. At first the road winds steeply up forested slopes, eventually emerging into more open country that affords views out toward Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean. (I have some ideas for photographs from up here, but so far the atmospheric conditions haven’t quite cooperated.) On the last visit, I looked a bit more closely at the dense forest growing along this road, and I stopped at one point to photograph this thick area of backlit trees.

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.

London Street Market

London Street Market
London Street Market

London Street Market. London, England. July 6, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A London street market near closing time.

This is another photograph made in the narrow streets along the south side of the Thames river roughly in the area of the Millennium and Southwark Bridges, where we found ourselves with some time to kill late one afternoon. As we walked around with no firm plan in mind we came to a location where a street market was just closing, and the many vendors were making their final sales of the day and starting to close up shop.

Visually this was an absolutely compelling place to photograph, though I’m not at all sure I was able to do it justice – and I would go back given the chance. The many stalls selling almost anything you can imagine created their own interest; the place was packed with people shopping or just walking through on their way to some other place. And being under a bridge and in places in old buildings with lots of glass above, the light was truly wonderful. I spent perhaps a half hour walking through the area, shooting like crazy, and I especially liked the spots like this one where I could position myself in shadow and shoot directly toward the late afternoon light.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

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