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

Three Windows, Florence

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Three Windows, Florence
Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

Three Windows, Florence. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

This is one of the most prevalent color combinations we saw in Italian towns this past summer — the variations on golden-brown (which can range from essentially tan to dark brown) and the green shutters. I’m sure that not all of the shutters are actually green, but on some days it seemed so. And while I’m listing the typical things, the distressed wall surface needs to be included, as that is very common, too.

The three windows were on a nondescript building in Florence, on a side street a ways away from the bustling center of the touristy historic district. Here the streets were almost empty, and we wandered slowly among buildings, a small park, and portions of a university campus. I like the combination of the symmetry of the three windows with the distances of the open window at the left.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Oaks, Morning

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Autumn Oaks, Morning
Autumn oak trees silhouetted in morning light, against the backdrop of smoke from a managed fire, Yosemite Valley.

Autumn Oaks, Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn oak trees silhouetted in morning light, against the backdrop of smoke from a managed fire, Yosemite Valley.

This photograph comes from the my November 1 visit to Yosemite Valley on a day when a managed fire filled the air with smoke. It was especially thick here, as the fire was burning more or less around the meadow containing these trees. In the photograph you can probably see the thicker smoke in the shaded distance, though where I was standing it was not quite as bad.

There were several key features making this photograph work. The slender trunks of these trees are always interesting, but here they were backlight by intense sunlight coming over the top of the Valley walls, increasing the saturation of the fall leaf color. This light also left the trunks in silhouette while lighting up some of the dry autumn grasses, and the smoke muted background distractions.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel

Columns and Shadows

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Columns and Shadows
Soft light on columns near Ingreja Da Graca, Lisbon.

Columns and Shadows. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Soft light on columns near Ingreja Da Graca, Lisbon.

This is perhaps not quite a typical Lisbon photograph, and it came about as a result of one of our semi-random walks — something that characterizes our travel. We, wandered downhill to a central square, crossed and began ascending, and eventually turned toward the hill topped by the St. George Castle. We climbed up to it, but decided not to join the tourist throng inside, preferring to wander around the periphery… and that led us to this nearby convent and church. (The full name is longer than what I’ve used here, by the way.)

After wandering through the beautiful church, we walked around the grounds of the convent, a quiet and not-very-busy place that contrasted with what we had experienced earlier in the day. These columns, in lovely soft light, lined a walkway around an inner courtyard.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1

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Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows I
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is probably a familiar scene to Eastern Sierra aspen color hunters who poke around in harder-to-reach areas. I had been traveling through this high terrain, where one crosses the boundary between aspen country and conifer forests. It was late in the day, and soon the long shadows cast by peaks near the Sierra crest began to fall across the landscape.

I looked back and saw these sunlit groves… and the rapidly expanding and approaching shadow. I quickly set up and made a few exposures as the shadows began to mute the colors of some of the brilliantly yellow groves. Yet the foreground trees remained in the sunlight, glowing in its warm light.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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