Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Souvenir Shop, Vienna

Image June 3, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Night photograph of a souvenir shop in Vienna, Austria.

We had plans — still do, sort of — to go back to Europe later this year. At the moment, while we have not cancelled anything yet, it is looking more and more likely that those plans will end up being cancelled. At least I can plow back into my raw file archive from previous trips and go there vicariously for now!

Almost two years ago we were on the road, mostly in Europe, for seven weeks in the summer. We spent a few days in New York City before flying to London for a very short visit. From there we did a large loop through The Netherlands, Germany, and France. Along the way we made four-day stops in several cities, saw three Wagner operas at the Bayreuth Festival, and then met up with family at a big place we rented not far outside of Paris. This photograph comes from our visit to Vienna, and on this evening I went out with a small camera and one lens to photograph the night scene.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature

Fairy Lantern, Spring Greenery

Image June 2, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A fairy lantern blossom among spring greens in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area.

This is not a fairy lantern blossom from the spring 2020 season. It is not news to anyone at this point, but my ability to get into the field was interrupted by stay-at-home orders more or less at the peak of the local wildflower season. Fortunately, I did get out a few times before the world came crashing down. And, truth be told, I have a lot of unfinished photographs sitting in the raw file archive from which this one comes.

While I know that this lovely flower can be found in quite a few places, I almost go back to the same specific location. It is along a trail in a local country park that drops down into a small canyon cut by a seasonal stream. The sides of the canyon are steep, and there is plenty of overhanging foliage, and on the right spring day the whole place is quiet and full of green.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin

Tufa Field, Dawn

Image June 1, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First dawn light on a field of short tufa formations.

One of the great privileges about photographing landscapes is that I get to wake up way before dawn so that I can be in place before the sun rises. No, really. Like many of you, I used to dread the idea of getting up in the dark, and I could not fathom how anyone could actually want to do this. But even though I’ll admit that the sound of an alarm at, say, 3:30AM is not something I look forward to, at least I now understand that there are rewards that make it worthwhile. Such as standing alone in an immense, silent space as the first light creeps over mountains to the east.

Tufa, from I’ve come to understand, comes in quite a variety of shapes and sizes. There some well-known tufa structures that have been photographed lots of times not far from here, and I’ve photographed those, too. I have gotten to know some absolutely huge tufa formations in desert areas around Death Valley. (If you were familiar with only the first one I mentioned above, you might not even recognize the second as an example of the same thing.)These very small tufa structures embody yet another form of this stuff.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, Mountains, Footprints

Image May 31, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Footprints of previoius visitors cross sand dunes beneath desert mountains.

If I had my druthers I suppose that I would have preferred dunes that were untracked, but that was not the case. So here, I think, the footprints of those who visited before me may be interesting in their own way as they trace the paths that those people followed — across the foreground dune, up the face of steeper sections, and along the highest ridges.

My visit on this occasion was brief. After spending nearly a week on the road I decided to make my final night in this park be in the far backcountry, so I drove to a location that was interesting on its own account and which gave access to an alternative route out of the park. I had an afternoon, a night, and a morning here before I headed over to the east side of the Sierra and started home.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Souvenir Shop, Vienna

Fairy Lantern, Spring Greenery

Tufa Field, Dawn

Dunes, Mountains, Footprints

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