Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Moonrise, San Francisco

Image November 21, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The autumn moon rises above San Francisco’s Transamerica building.

Late autumn and early winter are great times to do street photography, in my opinion. I suppose that I’m biased in that one of my objectives is to be able to photograph in the twilight and early evening hours, when a bit of remaining ambient natural light combines with artificial lighting to produce the feeling of night in photographs without looking all details to the darkness. (I also like the fact that I can photograph at night… and still catch a train back home from San Francisco at a reasonable hour!)

On this November visit I had arrived in The City in the early afternoon, doing the usual sorts of street photography in the more traditional daylight. As sunset approached I headed north through the Financial District, and eventually wandered up Columbus before reversing course and heading back to the south through the Chinatown District. (Main reasons I like to photograph there at night include abundant and colorful lighting, along with relatively narrow streets that let me get close to subjects.) As I began my walk south into this area I looked up and was surprised to see the rising moon sitting next to the Transamerica building.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer Franka M. Gabler, John Muir Wilderness

Image November 20, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photographer Franka M. Gabler at work in the John Muir Wilderness.

A band of photographers, informally referred to by some as the “First Light Group,” has been photographing in the Sierra Nevada backcountry for nearly two decades as a group — and much longer as individuals. A core group has been there since the beginning, a few no longer join us (though they are present on every trip in our conversations), and others have joined the group subsequent to the first trip. I’m in the latter group, having gone along for about a decade. A remarkable collection of photographic work has come from the group over the years, and there is a story about this endeavor that warrants being told more widely.

At times the group has been sponsored by various entities. At one time the Yosemite Conservancy was a major supporter. On several occasions that group has been self-supporting. This past summer we were generously supported by Yosemite Renaissance. Our collaboration with them had several goals. They, of course, want to support artists creating work related to Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada — they were interested in learning about the logistics of putting artists in the backcountry for periods long enough to do significant work, something that the First Light folks know a lot about. They wanted to share in the experience of producing artistic work this way. As part of the latter goal several artists accompanied us this year, including photographer Franka M. Gabler, who is seen at work in this photograph.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Slabs, Reflection

Image November 19, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The patterns of fractured Sierra Nevada slabs reflected in the quiet surface of an alpine lake.

This lake was a productive target for all of us in a group of photographers and artists who base-camped for a week at 11,000′ in the Eastern Sierra last summer. Our camp was perhaps 15 minutes away from this beautiful lake set in a huge bowl at the base of a tall peak that dominated the view from almost everywhere in the area. In places near its outlet there were trees, rocks were everywhere, and the side at the base of the cliff was covered with large talus.

We all spent considerable time there. I know that I visited at least three times. On my first visit I did little more than get a sense of the prospects at the lake since the light wasn’t ideal at that time and there was a bit more wind than I wanted. On a second visit I went at just about the right time, but the many subjects distracted me and I missed the light for some that I had come for. I think it was on the third visit (or was it the fourth?) when I finally managed to get to this bit of textured slabs at the water’s edge before the bright morning light washed out the scene and before the day’s winds broke the smooth surface of the water.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Reflected Peaks

Image November 18, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Rugged peaks reflected in the surface of a quiet subalpine Sierra Nevada lake.

Many of my landscape photographs, at least those made in clear and sunny conditions, come from rather early in the morning or quite late in the day. As we know, the light is often very lovely at those times — it can be warm-toned, reflected light may fill shadows. But it is most certainly possible to photograph at almost any hour of the day, and that can broaden the photographic opportunities quite a bit.

While it was still somewhat early when I made this photograph, it was most certainly long past sunrise. The warm light had been replaced by the colder, bluer light of daytime. The geography of this location helped a bit — a very tall ridge stood to our east, and it blocked the direct sunlight until relatively late in the morning. After finishing my sunrise photography I ended up strolling slowly along the shoreline of this small lake, paying attention to the small inlets and peninsulas and to the ways that the smooth water reflected the surrounding peaks.

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