Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Utah Aspen Grove, Fall

February 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A thin stand of autumn aspen trees, Dixie National Forest

This is another photograph of those beautiful, tall, nearly straight aspen trees — a growth pattern that I don’t see so often here in the California Sierra Nevada, but which is very common in Utah. These trees are probably near the end of their autumn color phase, even though I made the photograph near the beginning of October. It seems that the fall color comes a bit sooner here! (At higher elevations, almost all of the aspen color was already gone by the end of the first week of October.)

The photograph suggests several thoughts to me. First, that photographing aspens during so-called peak color is not the only option. The trees actually pass through a transition that can be photographed at almost any point, from the first hints of color, through the peak, and right on through to the time when few leaves are left. In fact, it may be possible to work the light a bit more later on. Second, while the early and late light is often best, it is possible to photograph this and other subjects during the main part of the day. I made this photograph in the afternoon as some high clouds passed overhead and softened the light. Finally, Utah’s public wild lands are under threat today, including from some misguided Utah legislators who seem to think that the profits of a small group of extraction industry corporations are more important than ensuring the protection of these features — to the extent that they are calling for reducing the area of existing national lands and the take-back of others. One group that works to protect such places is the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Consider supporting their work.

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

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Black and White Stripes

February 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white strips on a bus stop billboard

For a guy who photographs landscapes, shooting street photography can be liberating and a whole lot of fun. Consider: Rather than carrying a large tripod, a big camera, a bag full of lenses — not that I’m complaining! — I can go out with a camera I can hold in one hand, usually with a single prime lens, and I can simply respond immediately to whatever I see. Subjects can include commercial signs, architecture, people, you name it. On a practical note, photographing this way helps me tune up my “seeing” so that I more quickly can find and figure out how to photograph things.

We were killing time in the late afternoon in Pasadena, California, between a midday event and a rendezvous for dinner in the evening. We walked some, hung out in a little place for a while, then walked more, had coffee, and walked again. This pattern was part of an advertising graphic on a sign at a bus stop, if I recall correctly.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Aspen Forest

February 21, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall autumn aspen trees stretch across mountain landscape of Dixie National Forest

Generally speaking, aspen trees don’t grow like this much in my home state of California. On a two-week visit to Southern Utah’s beautiful wild and protect lands back in 2012 we entered the state from the west and drove up into the mountains around Brian Head and Cedar Breaks National Monument, where we spent a few early October days poking around, exploring, and discovering autumn color. (Utah aspen color comes a bit earlier than Sierra Nevada aspen color, and it was reaching the end of its run when we arrived.) One afternoon we simply decided, for no particular reason that I can recall, to investigate a gravel road that headed of to the south from a main route, and before long we ended up among the tall, straight trees of this beautiful aspen forest.

For all of its beauty, much of which has been preserved in national parks, monuments, and forests, there are political forces in Utah that want to destroy these beautiful places that belong to all Americans. Rather than saving and protecting the beauties of their state, they want to give the resources away for the short-term benefit of special interests who will use up the land and walk away. (Take a look at the legacy of the Uranium mining around Moab if you need example of a precedent.) There are many ways to fight back and work to protect these lands. One group doing good work on behalf of the Utah wild land resources is the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. They could use your support right about now.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Building In Muted Light

February 20, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud-muted light on an urban building near SFMOMA

This building is becoming something of a theme for me, and I often end up treating it in black and white. I made the photograph from one of the outdoor terraces high on the side of the new section of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), from which there are interesting and varied views of the surrounding downtown San Francisco neighborhood. This building is perhaps the closest to the museum, and its form and the texture of its surface are interesting.

I originally thought that it would be a color photograph. The soft light played in interesting ways on the subtle colors of the stone and the pastel color of the windows. But the more I worked on it the more something persuaded me to let go of that nod to realism and instead go with a rather highly processed monochrome interpretation. There is a school of architecture photography that makes heavy use of techniques that darken areas of the image and then compensate by selective lightening. This is often complemented by some techniques involving blur — a sort of masking effect. I used these and more, including some heavy dodging and burning to get this photograph to what you see here — perhaps for no more reason than that I wanted to explore some of these techniques.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Utah Aspen Grove, Fall

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Black and White Stripes

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Aspen Forest

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Building In Muted Light

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

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