Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Evening Along the Canal

Image September 13, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This photograph of people lazily passing an evening along a canal in Venice almost didn’t see the light of day. It is a “left behind” photograph that languished in my raw file archives for the past three years. Every so often I revisit the archives, and I almost always discover something that I missed. How do I miss these images? Sometimes I think I had a different idea in mind for the photograph that did not work, and returning with fresh eyes allows me to see it anew. Or, as in this case, another photograph that I made almost next door to this one did make the initial cut, so I think I dismissed this one at the time and moved on.

We were in Venice in August that year. Believe it or not, we had not been there before, and we really felt that it shouldn’t be missed. So we put up with the crowds and heat and incorporated it into a larger trip to Southern Europe. On this evening we had eaten and then gone out for an evening walk in the cooler air, diminished crowds, and beautiful evening light.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Trees

Image September 12, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Previously I have mentioned that certain boulders, hillocks, bends in creeks, and trees in the Sierra are “old friends” of mine that I have visited regularly for decades. These trees are among those friends. It isn’t unusual for me to photograph Tuolumne Meadows in the early morning, and these trees stands at the west end of the meadow, positioned before a panorama of meadow, forest, and peaks.

To be honest, it was no longer exactly “early morning” when I made this photograph, at least not by photography standards. (“Early” means things like arising at 3:00am, setting out on a hike at 3:30am, or arriving at a location more than a half hour before sunrise.) The sun had risen above the peaks of the Sierra Crest, and it was making the atmospheric haze glow.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Douro River at Pinhão

Image September 11, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I am going to use this post to give a shout-out to Portugal Green Walks, the company we used to organize our May walk in the Douro Valley hills. (I have no financial relationship with the company — just a pleased customer.) We spent a week in this region, walking on six days between cities in a loop that started and ended in Pinhão, the small town along the river bank near the lower edge of the photo. They could not have come up with a better conclusion to the walk. On the second-to-last day we rounded a hill and soon came upon this spectacular view of the Douro River and Valley.

A few minutes later we arrived at our lodgings, checked in, and walked out onto their terrace overlooking this view, where we enjoyed almonds from their orchard and a glass of wine. We truly felt that we had arrived as we sat and took in this remarkable scene. We were not quite finished yet — the next morning we had a short, easy downhill walk to Pinhão, where we began our trip back to Porto.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Rectangular

Image September 10, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Color and Light Patterns — “Rectangular” — Patterns of color and light on an urban building, San Jose, California.

This photograph ties in with a couple of aspects of my photographic practice. I’ve always been fascinated by patterns, shapes, colors, and textures in the abstract. I think this is present even in photographs of mine that are not as clearly geometric as this one. In addition, I often photograph things that might seem mundane — every day places and objects.

Connected to that last point, I often carry a camera with me when I go out for non-photography purposes. I walk a lot — often miles every day. And I virtually never head out on a walk without a camera. Most often it stays in the bag and I don’t make any photographs. But every so often I see an interesting subject and, having the camera with me, I make photographs.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Evening Along the Canal

Douro River at Pinhão

Rectangular

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