Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Door, Steps, and Window

January 27, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The front of an urban Pasadena building at twilight

Here I’ll interject an “urban landscape” into the stream of mostly natural landscape photographs that I’ve recently posted. This photograph comes from a visit to Southern California, mostly in the Pasadena area, just after the New Year’s Day Holiday. We were there for a family event, but there were plenty of opportunities to do street and similar kinds of photography in the characteristic Southern California environment.

We had been out walking in the afternoon, and as evening came on it was that time that is so magical for handheld street photography, the time just after sunset when there is still ambient light as artificial lights start to come on and take over the landscape. We continued to wander, taking a big look back into central Pasadena and past some residential areas where I found this little vignette.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper, Sage, and Red Rock

January 26, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A juniper tree stands amidst broken red rock terrain in light reflected from nearby sandstone cliffs

This photograph includes a number of the characteristic features of this southern Utah Landscape: a solitary juniper tree growing from rocky terrain, sage brush and other brushy plants, the textured red rock, and the intensified color from light bouncing from other red rock cliffs nearby. Here, too, is a bit of rock left from a layer of lighter rock — in this area of Capitol Reef National Park steeply tilted strata place such diverse rocks together in surprising places.

This spot is high on a ridge in a less accessible part of Capitol Reef National Park. This park seems like a bit of an oddity in some ways. If you drive through it probably seems tiny, since the road cuts across it narrow east-west dimension, but the park stretches a good distance north and south. The accessible attractions are very appealing, but most of them lie a short distance from the highway, and to get to the more remote areas of the park you are likely going to have to drive a good distance on some less “civilized” roads and then get out and walk. The area where I made the photograph is such a place. While getting their doesn’t require a major expedition, it is far enough away from the main road that the number of visitors is small and silence and solitude are plentiful.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper and Red Rock Cliff

January 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary juniper tree grows at the base of a Utah red rock cliff

This being Utah, it represents a place that will likely be in need to attention and support from all of us who love our shared national lands, in opposition to those who would privatize them for purposes of extractive industry, damn the consequences. The photograph comes from an autumn visit to Southern Utah nearly five years ago, when I joined a group of fellow photographers to explore areas from Capitol Reef to Zion and points in between. This is, as many of you know, stunningly beautiful country, particularly if you get off the main roads a bit and poke around in odd washes and canyons and remote routes.

This lovely juniper tree grows at the base of a sculpted sand stone face that is marked by all sort of veins, weathering, and water stains. The tree grows from what appears to be nearly solid rock, likely finding sustenance on whatever debris has filled a crack at the base of the cliff over the years. The colors of this part of the world area simply extraordinary, with the base being the infinite shades of sandstone color, bathed in everything from direct sun to light that has become saturated by bouncing its way among the colorful walls until it reaches the depths of narrow canyons.

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Egret, Airborne

January 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A great egret flies past, skimming above wetland plants

In some ways these magnificent birds are very accessible, but in other they can be hard to photograph in interesting ways. They are common at the locations where I frequently photograph birds, and when I have decent cover (shooting from a vehicle or similar) I can frequently get relatively close to them without scaring them into flight. The key is a very slow and cautious approach and sensitivity to the body language of the bird — there are often hints when egrets think that I am getting too close. From just outside that boundary the egrets are large enough to fill the frame in good conditions, and I have lots of photographs of them on the ground feeding. Perhaps too many!

That’s the problem. An egret on the ground is interesting, but not often quite as interesting as an egret in the air. (Grounded egrets can be beautiful in the right light and with the right background and so forth.) In flight they are beautiful birds, typically using slow wing motion and often gliding, and they assume impressive poses when taking off and when landing. However, the lift off is sudden and the flight path typically takes the bird away from me. But sometimes I get lucky, as I did with this specimen. I was actually unaware of its presence and, in fact, it may have been unaware of mine. I had stopped to photograph something else when the bird suddenly flew into range from my left and passed in front of me as it made a gentle turn around my position. I’ve learned to react fairly quickly and to get the camera up and tracking, but in the best of circumstances it is still a challenge. The first couple of frames are almost humorously off-target, but then I found my subject and centered it in the frame as it passed by very closely.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Door, Steps, and Window

Juniper, Sage, and Red Rock

Juniper and Red Rock Cliff

Great Egret, Airborne

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