Quotations and Photographs (Morning Musings 9/21/14)

September 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Self-portrait with Friedlander Poster - SFMoMA — Self-portrait with Friedlander Poster – SFMoMA

With partially ironic intent, I’m going to begin this Morning Musings post with two quotations. I snagged from the web by doing a quick search on “quotations about quotations” and, in line with common web practice, I simply present them for what they appear to be — I have not checked to validate the sources. Hey, it’s the internet! ;-)

“In the garden of literature, the highest and the most charismatic flowers are always the quotations.”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Many Inventions

I’ve thought about this quite a bit, largely in the context of the (increasingly?) common practice of attaching quotations to photographs. I think that there are things about this practice that seem useful and beneficial, but there are also some aspects that seem a bit problematic, at least to me, and I’d like to briefly explore this in an entirely incomplete way.

I can call up a few relevant quotations pretty quickly when necessary. Some of you may have seen me post a favorite John Muir quote as a way of acknowledging that I’m heading of into the mountains: The mountains are calling and I must go. Continue reading Quotations and Photographs (Morning Musings 9/21/14) →

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

Cloud Gate

September 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Chicago’s Cloud Gate reflecting the city skyline

The Cloud Gate sculpture is one of the iconic sights of downtown Chicago, visited by many people and photographed by almost all of them! It stands in an accessible and central section of the lakeside Millennium Park, just across the street from central downtown areas. We wandered past twice on two different days as we walked around this area during our visit. (There are other fascinating public art installations in the surrounding area, too.)

The sculpture is impressive in photographs, but I did not realize how large it is in person. It is remarkable in a number of ways, not the least of which is the effect it has had on the public consciousness. In a purely objective sense, the existence of such a huge, unbroken and curving reflective surface is a marvel. And it is also, to be plain, a lot of fun — it is hard to imagine how anyone could resist playing around with the distorted reflections it produces. Having seen so many photographs of the thing I first resisted the temptation to shoot it, instead just looking. Then I thought that it might be interesting to photograph the ways that people interact with the sculpture, so I took the camera out and started shooting.

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Morning Musings

Aspen Color Update (Morning Musings 9/20/14)

September 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Aspen Tree, Morning Light - An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon — An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon *

Today’s Morning Musings post is a brief summary of some things I’m hearing about the development of the eastern Sierra fall aspen color. With the exception of some things I saw a week and a half ago in the Yosemite backcountry, what follows is entirely second-hand information, gleaned from descriptions and photographs I’ve seen posted here and there on the web. (That means that you will likely want to do whatever other checks you normally rely on if you want more detailed and specific information.)

I usually target the first week of October for my first serious aspen photography in the eastern Sierra, but in recent posts I have mentioned the widespread feeling that the color just might come early this year. I also wrote about seeing some strong signs of autumn color in northern Yosemite during the first two weeks of September, earlier than I would usually expect to see such things.

After reading some years of the annual excitement of “the aspens are changing early this year!” following the discovery of an odd tree here or there with some yellow leaves, I’m usually pretty cautious about reports of early color. However, I’m starting to hear and see a significant number of reports and photographs suggesting that things really are getting underway early this time. Continue reading Aspen Color Update (Morning Musings 9/20/14) →

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

North Chicago River

September 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The North Chicago River and downtown area buildings

Early in the morning we took what I believe was the first boat on the Chicago River Tour, the (deservedly) popular way to see and learn about the architecture of Chicago that lines the river and its branches. Despite the peaceful and bucolic scene along the banks of this section of the river, the waterway has a bit of a troubled past and still has a quite a way to go before its water quality is sufficiently restored. (One memorable line from the tour narrator pointed out that only in Chicago would it be regarded as environmental progress when a river’s status “rose” from “toxic” to “polluted. ;-)

In any case, there is a lot to see from the river since much of the downtown is very close to its banks, and many additional things that you wouldn’t notice from the sidewalk or road are visible from down on the water. There is a lot of redevelopment work going on, and areas that were apparently once industrial are now being converted to residential and related use. It is possible to walk many sections of the river, and kayakers are a frequent sight. This photograph looks back toward central Chicago from the north branch of the river and past sections where trees line portions of the bank.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Quotations and Photographs (Morning Musings 9/21/14)

Cloud Gate

Aspen Color Update (Morning Musings 9/20/14)

North Chicago River

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