Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rock Abstraction

Image May 20, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I feel that there is always a tension in landscape photography between showing things as they literally are, showing them as we might wish they were, and using them as departure points for more imaginative explorations of what they suggest to us. This photograph falls squarely into the latter category. As I looked at the remarkable patterns in these shoreline rocks, I thought about how I have seen similar patterns in paintings. So I decided to push reality a bit and head in the direction that those works suggested.

Once again, this photograph illustrates how I/we can find new things in old places. I made the photograph at a coastal spot that I have photographed since I was a young kid with a cheap black and white camera, imagining himself following in the footsteps of Adams and Weston — who also photographed exactly here. Decades later I still return and ind new things and new ways to see them.

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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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Spain, Photographs: Travel

Interior, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site

Image May 19, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

As I continue working on photographs from our summer 2023 visit to Barcelona, here is another from the Saint Pau Art Nouveau Site, originally the Hospital de la Santa Creu i San Pau. The immense grounds of the “hospital” were vacated when the hospital relocated to a newer facility. Eventually those who did not want to lose this remarkable example of modern art nouveau architecture managed to begin the work of restoring and maintaining it.

Some buildings, such as the large main entrance facing the street, are fully and gloriously restored. Others, like this old hospital ward building, await restoration. For now the latter have been cleared out and stabilized, but the interiors are quite bare. (A large photograph at the far end of this room shows what it might have looked like when it was still a working hospital.)

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

The White Stone

Image May 18, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I had a free morning in mid-April, so I headed over to Point Lobos, barely more than an hour’s drive from here. I might have gone on down the Big Sur coast, but road washouts have closed that route for now. So Point Lobos it was! I arrived to gray weather — high fog and not much in the way of interesting, directional light. But eventually the clouds began to pull back toward the coast and soft, directional light appeared.

Point Lobos always rewards a slower pace. There’s a lot to see here, and even more to see if you linger and start to notice things that you might miss by passing through quickly. The edges of this cove are lined with rocky strata that gradually dip into the water. Winter surf pushes all sorts of interesting stuff up onto the shoreline, and I enjoy walking slowly here and seeing what I can find. The small colorful pebbles are everywhere, but the larger white rock was the special find.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

Photographs: Nature

A Spring Garden

Image May 17, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In early spring we found time to spend an evening at the Hakone Estate and Gardens, where a celebration of spring in general and cherry blossoms specifically was taking place. One can go there at almost any time of day, but evenings are special. We arrived in late afternoon light and then, as we wandered the garden, the light faded to sunset and then twilight as colorful lights came on to illuminate the cherry trees.

Of course, there is much more to see there than just the cherry trees. The buildings of the estate are fascinating, there are pools and streams, bridges, and also sorts of flooring plants, bushes, and trees. In one corner of the garden, on a hilly path, I came upon this corner filled with extremely lush spring plants.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Rock Abstraction

Interior, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site

The White Stone

A Spring Garden

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