Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Killdeer

February 14, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A killdeer along the edge of a pond

I’m increasingly interested in little birds like this killdeer, even though they may not seem so “special” due to their small size and appearance almost anywhere you might go. Heck, you could photograph a lot of birds like this one by going no further than your own backyard or a nearby park.

What they lack in “spectacular-ness,” they (sometimes more than) make up for in personality, not to mention that it is often possible to get quite close to them and observe them for a long time. This killdeer was content to go about its business less than ten feet from me as I quietly photographed from a position that partially hid me. It hopped, it fed, it flew a short distance, it turned around — all in all, it was quite adept at posing. It also is a rather attractive bird once you watch it a bit, especially with those interesting stripes of black and white on the head and neck, plus that subtle margin of striking red around the deep black eyes.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Crossing Lexington

February 13, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man crosses Lexington on a winter afternoon in New York City

I made this photograph on one of the coldest in a string of very cold winter days in New York City between Christmas and New Year’s Day. On such days we still were out walking around Manhattan quite a bit, but we also sought out shelter and warmer activities. On this day the plan was to visit an exhibit at the Guggenheim. We took the subway up there and arrived late enough that we had to join a line waiting, we presumed, for folks in the already-crowded building to leave so that we could enter. After fifteen or twenty minutes in the line, standing in freezing wind, we realized that the line was not moving at all, and we bailed out for a nearby restaurant where we could warm up.

After lunch we ended up on Lexington, where there was plenty to see and photograph. Many of my photographs on this afternoon took advantage of winter sunlight obliquely slanting across buildings and windows and reflecting onto the sidewalk and street. However, the light for this photograph was different — a sort of soft glow filtering down from the strip of sky above the street. This is a busy place, but during a momentary break in the pedestrian and vehicle traffic this solitary man slowly crossed the street in front of me.

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

Equipment

What Is Appealing About Mirrorless?

February 12, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Earlier today I read a comment by someone who understands the appeal of small, cropped-sensor mirrorless cameras but wondered, “What’s the charm that gets people excited about FF mirrorless?” The writer pointed out that size/weight advantages of mirrorless are diminished in full-frame mirrorless cameras, where one would likely use larger lenses, and that the electronic viewfinder (EVF) displays and shorter battery life seem like disadvantages by comparison to full frame DSLRs.

The answers to somewhat complex and subjective. I provided a rather short answer to the question in the original venue… but only after writing and deleting a longer reply (too long for that forum) that now forms the basis of what follows.

You are right to note that mirrorless (and DSLR) systems both have pluses and minuses. Reading what some write about this subject, you might start to think that the distinctions are black and white, where A is always better — unless the writer prefers B, in which B is always better in every way.

It is actually more nuanced than that, and we are in a period of transition where mirrorless systems are changing faster than DSLR systems — meaning that the former may not yet be up to speed in some areas for some users, but that they are rapidly becoming more competent and may be the better choice for more photographers than in the past.

(I use both mirrorless and DSLR systems. In some cases I prefer my mirrorless system. In other cases I prefer my DSLR. Other photographers I know feel differently. For example, I prefer my mirrorless system for street photography, but I often find myself with folks using small DSLRs. I’ve stood side-by-side with photographers using mirrorless cameras to photograph birds in flight while I used a DSLR.)

Part of the answer involves how the mirrorless cameras became popular, and part of it relates to the features and characteristics of the two options. Continue reading What Is Appealing About Mirrorless? →

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brick Wall, Balcony Shadows

February 12, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Shadows from metal balconies slant across brick wall

I don’t think I can up with a comprehensive list of all of the variations on urban and street subjects, but there are a lot of them. You can, of course, focus on photographing people — whether street portraits, with our without the subject’s cooperation, or anything up to groups and crowds. You can treat the urban environment as its own sort of landscape, looking for form and color and light in the familiar ways. You can think of it as a way of simply making a record of transitory things that will soon be changed or bone. It can focus on architecture. And the list goes on.

I think of this as a sort of street landscape. This New York wall, at this time of day and during this season, transforms into something that I can’t imagine the builders understood when they constructed it. My bet is that they were making a practical brick wall, with practical windows, a simple pair of balconies (probably designed to save money), and fire escapes. But, as was apparent when I walked past in December, becomes a canvas for a wild conjunction of shapes and textures and shadows.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Killdeer

Crossing Lexington

What Is Appealing About Mirrorless?

Brick Wall, Balcony Shadows

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