The story: This September morning on the ridge near Mission Peak was astonishing, with deep blue sky filled with mares tail clouds and coastal fog filling the valleys below and Mt. Diablo and other peaks rising above the fog. I originally saw this as a black and white photo (and it is presented that way elsewhere on this site) but after someone aske be for a color print I went back and came up with this version.
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The story: A small group of Bay Area hikers responded to Tom Mangan’s (Two-Heel Drive) call for a Thanksgiving morning hike to the top of Mission Peak, and were surprisingly agreeable to my crazy suggestion that we start the hike at 5:30 a.m. so that we could be at the summit for the sunrise. We arrived, in cold and extremely windy conditions, just before the sun came up, and this photograph shows the very first light striking the summit rocks of Mission Peak and illuminating Mt. Diablo in the distance.
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I gave the landscapist permission to attach on of my photos (better version here) to a piece describing my comments on an early post and photo by Dwight Jones. I related a story – that I hear is familiar to many photographers – of getting an interesting shot by means of some combination of accident, whim, and intuition.
If you follow the link, take a moment to check out the rest of the landscapist and, as I have, subscribe to their RSS feed.
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.
The story: This is a black and white version of an image I later posted in color with a slightly wider crop. This is a tricky photograph – there is a lot of complex detail in the scene, so it doesn’t lend itself to focusing on a few bold formal elements – but that is part of what I like about it. I think it is true to the feeling of this late fall morning on a central California hillside as the sun begins to shine though the trees.
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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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