Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ice Cream Shop, Paris

August 9, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I made this photograph on my first day (night, actually) of my first-ever visit to Paris, France. We arrived from London in the afternoon, found our hotel, took a few minutes to get our bearings, and then went for a walk — coffee first, then a bit of wandering and sight-seeing, then dinner, then more wandering that included after-dark photography in the streets of Montmartre.

We ate outside as the sun set and twilight came on, and from our table I watched this small ice cream shop across the street. The colors were wonderful, especially with lighted display cases that alternated red, green, blue, purple, yellow and other lights. I decided I would try to photograph it when we left our restaurant, and I caught it at the moment when the only remaining customers were the two people sitting at the table outside.

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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mountains, Last Light

August 8, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light passes across the rugged face of desert mountains, Death Valley National Park

At the risk of repeating something I have already written several times, scenes like this one have a particular way of deceiving us. This is, in the strict sense of the work, a desert scene, photographed in a place that seems very little perception and where it can be oppressively hot and dry and where sandstorms often blow. From this distance there is little obvious evidence that anything living is within the scene.

However, it is also completely obvious that the scene is full of the evidence of the power of water. While the mountains themselves were not created by water — though if you look back far enough to their sedimentary roots perhaps they were! — they were most certainly shaped by water. The rugged ridges and gullies are clear evidence of the power of water, and even that gradual slope at the bottom of the mountains is an alluvial fan, created over long periods of time as water washed down material eroded from those mountains.

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

Photographs: Southern California

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory

August 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Before this trip to the Los Angeles area, where I’ve been many times over the years, I had never actually been to the iconic Griffith Observatory overlooking the LA basin. That should probably embarrass me at least a little bit as a near-native Californian — but, heck, I’ve been to Disneyland! ;-)

We were actually staying much further south, in the Mission Viejo area, but we decided to spend a day farther north in Los Angeles. We (well, OK, I) wanted to visit a particular photography museum, and we had a restaurant in mind for dinner. In the end, we found ourselves with a bit of extra time and someone picked the Observatory as a good place to spend it. I had not idea it was so popular, and when we got there we found huge crowds — perhaps because it was just about sunset, and there is hardly a better place to be at sunset than here. I made this photograph, shooting handheld in the evening light, and was fascinated by the dense crowd of people packed onto the terraces surrounding the building.

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

News, Shows

Five Prints in “The Great Certainty” — Current Show at The Ansel Adams Gallery

August 6, 2016 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

I am very grateful to The Ansel Adams Gallery for including five of my photographs in the exhibition that opened this week in Yosemite Valley: “The Great Certainty: Photographs Commemorating 100 Years of National Park Stewardship,” August 6 through September 10.

A great variety of photographers are represented in this exhibit, and I feel honored to be included among them and to count many of them as personal and professional models, mentors, and friends: Ansel Adams, William Neill, Charles Cramer, Keith Walklet, Michael Frye, Mark Citret, Bob Kolbrener, Scot Miller, Rex Naden, Charlotte Hamilton Gibb, Mike Reeves, Franka Mlikota Gabler, David Hoffman, Evan Russel.

Stop in for a visit if you are in Yosemite Valley!

Sandstorm, Dunes — Stong winds lift clouds of sand high into the air above desert sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Submerged Boulders, Lake, and Cliffs — “Submerged Boulders, Lake, and Cliff” — Sunlight illuminates submerged boulders near the cliff face along the High Sierra Trail – Sequoia National Park.

Basalt Columns, Lichen, Autumn Plants — Autumn plants and lichen lend color to basalt columns, Devils Postpile National Monument

Sunrise, Capitol Reef — Dawn clouds about the peaks of Capitol Reef National Park

Fractured Granite, Reflection, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks — “Fractured Granite, Reflection” — The base of a rugged granite wall reflected in the still surface of a sub-alpine Sierra Nevada lake

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Ice Cream Shop, Paris

Desert Mountains, Last Light

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory

Five Prints in “The Great Certainty” — Current Show at The Ansel Adams Gallery

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