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

Snag and Forest

June 20, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary snag stands among forest trees in the Yosemite backcountry

A group of us, a band of photographers, spent a week in a Yosemite backcountry area back in the summer of 2014. With the plan of spending a week doing extensive photography of one or two areas, our equipment was brought in by pack train — we just had to walk in carrying our photographic equipment. We settled in for a few days at an isolated lake, and then we moved to a more populated area for the final few days of our visit.

The first location was a lovely little lake, set in a broad depression on a ridge above a very large valley. This spot provided us all sorts of photographic subjects — intimate landscapes, big views across the canyon to high peaks, and the forests and meadows and rocks spread around the lake itself. On this morning I had climbed up slanting granite slabs to reach a higher area, and here I found this solitary snag standing among living trees, and backed by forest running on up into the higher peaks.

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg Altstadt

June 19, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pedestrians walking along a street in the Heidelberg Altstadt

During last summer’s stay in Heidelberg we managed to walk over the hill, up the river, and across the bridge quite a few times to get to the Altstadt. Yes, it is a bit touristy, especially on the main street, but it is also a wonderful place with narrow streets and old buildings and lots of people.

I don’t recall the specific context of this photograph, but it was one of a series made along this street and others nearby in which I waited as people walking into and out of the scene, populating this urban landscape. The low afternoon sun produced long shadows as several people walked up the street and further away from me.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant Windows, Benches

June 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two benches outside the windows of a San Francisco restaurant

At the end of April I spent a couple of hours shooting through the golden hour and on into the evening in San Francisco, mostly exploring along The Embarcadero on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. Our group first wandered out on a pedestrian pier, where we hung up through sunset and into early twilight as the light faded from the sky and city lights came on.

Soon I left the group — I had a long drive back home — and wandered along the Embarcadero as I headed back to my car. Photographing into restaurant and club windows intrigues me. There is often a striking contrast between the interior world of people having dinner or drinks and the exterior world of very quite urban landscapes. Here a couple of unoccupied benches sit beneath windows, with more colorful lighting and a number of patrons inside.

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel

Paris, From Sacre Couer

June 17, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Overlooking Paris from Sacre Couer on a cloudy evening

I never get tired of telling a story on us, a story about our first evening in Paris. Last summer, in 2016, we traveled for about five weeks, visiting a number of places from New York to London, Paris, Heidelberg, and finally ending up in Italy. We had been to some of these places before, but this was our first visit to Paris and Italy. On the first afternoon in Paris we managed to only slightly confuse ourselves finding our hotel, but we soon resolved that and got settled in for a weeklong stay.

In the early evening we decided to head out. First we wanted to find espresso — and just to tell you how naive we were, we looked long and hard to find an espresso place. (Yes, anyone who has visited Paris is laughing at that. We learned. Quickly.) Then we set out on more or less a random walk around the hotel in the Montmartre district. Eventually we came to a hill, and there was a tram. Now this looked interesting. We decided to walk up the hill and at the top we “discovered” a rather impressive church, from which there was an expansive view of much of Paris. What a wonderful discovery. Oh, wait, this is a pretty famous place, Sacre Couer. :-)

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Snag and Forest

Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg Altstadt

Restaurant Windows, Benches

Paris, From Sacre Couer

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