Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Buildings and Sky, San Francisco

October 6, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall downtown buildings and sky in morning light, San Francisco, California.

These buildings are near the intersection of Market and the Embarcadero not far from the waterfront in downtown San Francisco. The fog had just cleared back a bit from this area and the first real light of the day was striking the forms of these tall buildings and setting them off against the very blue morning sky.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, market, street, embarcadero, business, building, architecture, form, shape, structure, shadow, cloud, sky, bue, reflection, window, wall, column, perspective, metropolitan, travel, angles, light, morning, office, stock

Commentary, Locations

More Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Conditions

October 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

I returned very late last night (Sunday, 10/4/ 2009) from a weekend trip to the eastern Sierra to photograph fall aspen colors. It was, as they say, an “interesting” experience – in many ways not quite typical but in others not totally surprising either. On Saturday I posted “Bishop Creek Aspen Conditions – 10/3/09” in the early afternoon, so this report takes up where that one left off.

After posting that first report from Starbucks in Bishop I drove back up into the Bishop Creek drainage. After getting a camp site at the Four Jeffrey campground (now a surprising $21/night!) I headed up the road toward South Lake to do some late afternoon and evening photography. The weather was not fully cooperative, to say the least! The predicted high winds were arriving in the eastern Sierra, and I think that anyone can understand the “perfect storm” of low light, high winds, and fluttering aspen leaves! I was still able to work with the conditions and get some interesting stuff, though it was a real challenge. To avoid writing the same thing twice, I’ll hold off on the description of the aspen conditions and cover that below as I describe Sunday shooting.

My final stop on Saturday night before putting the camera away for the day was at South Lake, where the wind was howling and the light was fading fast and the temperature was dropping. As I arrived two rather cold-looking backpackers flagged me down and asked, with a certain amount of intensity, if I would drive them down to Bishop. It turned out that they had just finished a 22 mile day, coming from just below Mather Pass, and were exhausted. Realizing that it was time to recharge my own supply of backpacker hitchhiking karma (e.g. – sometimes I need a ride back to my car!) I agreed to squeeze them into the car and drive them down to Bishop. Continue reading More Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Conditions →

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Vertical Forms and Reflections

October 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Vertical forms of downtown buildings and reflections in windows – San Francisco, California.

On this mid-September morning I wandered up Market Street from the Ferry building just as the fog was beginning to clear back from the waterfront. The light on the downtown buildings was stunning – still relatively low given the early hour, occasionally interrupted by a few lingering clouds, and with a deep blue sky background. Instead of focusing on the street scene – at least for the most part – instead I photographed the angles, colors, and forms of the buildings and the effects of light and reflections on their surfaces.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, vertical, form, structure, architecture, building, skyscraper, glass, column, shape, reflection, glass, mirror, sky, cloud, travel, abstract, perspective, light, blue, market, street, stock, lines, converge

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

San Francisco Buildings, Morning Light

October 4, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on a maze of buildings in downtown San Francisco, California.

I’ll interrupt the landscape and nature photography for a bit here to post a series of photographs made on a mid-September morning in San Francisco – one of my periodic (very) early morning Caltrain trips up the Peninsula to the The City to shoot on foot in the downtown area.

On this morning I arrived on the 7:02 a.m. train to find – no surprise! – fog along the San Francisco Bay waterfront. I headed along the Embarcadero past familiar subjects including the South Beach Harbor and the Bay Bridge, then turned up Market Street into the main downtown area. The fog was clearing back from the bay and the light was wonderful – a mixture of foggy gray, early morning blue, and intermittent shadows from clouds near the edge of the clearing fog bank.

There is a huge variety of potential subjects in downtown San Francisco on a weekday morning, but I decided to focus on the almost abstract forms on the buildings in this early light.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, window, wall, reflection, sun, light, shadow, pattern, structure, perspective, busy, complex, skyscraper, urban, light, stock, landscape, archtecture, design

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