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

Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

November 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Blue water and light above Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

My annual hunt for aspen color took me to the Lake Tahoe area in early October. I realized that although I’ve gone to Tahoe for many years that I have very few photographs of the area. The reason, I think, is that so often Tahoe is a place to go for other purposes, such as skiing or a cabin stay, etc. And, frankly, Lake Tahoe is a very busy and, in many ways, quite urbanized place — so my nature and wilderness instincts are often a bit frustrated there. But it is a beautiful lake, and I could see more of that when I went there this time with photographic intentions.

The underlying reason this time has to do with a project I’m working on that is related to fall color in the mountains of California. I’ve covered many other good fall color areas, but I needed more material from the Tahoe area. So I spent an evening, a full day, and part of a morning doing some exploring. The “full day” began with a drive over highway to the Carson City, Nevada area and then north towards Reno and back toward Tahoe past Mount Rose. There were quite a few aspens along this part of the drive, but I couldn’t stop much due to road construction. Then I did something I’ve done a number of times before — I circumnavigated the lake, paying special attention to fall color. I realized that there is quite a lot of it, even if much of the color is in areas filled with cabins and resorts. The photograph overlooks the northeast part of the lake from the roadway descending from Mt. Rose.

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Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

Dissipating Structures

November 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Distorted reflections of a crane and Chicago buildings

Every so often I wonder about architects. For the most part we think of them — or at least I do — as folks who are as much about logic and structure as they are about design and form, and when they are about design they don’t usually seem to be particularly whimsical. (With notable exceptions.) Whimsical doesn’t fit the image or the expectations of the typical big business clients who might commission such towers as those found in an urban center like Chicago — these see like people who are more interested in cultivating an image of stability and wealth and power.

But then I look at the window reflections that are the inevitable result of placing plexiglas covered buildings in close proximity to one another and I have to wonder. Are these folk aware of the almost hallucinogenic shapes and forms that appear on the sides of these buildings? In fact, how many people on the streets are away of the abstract and bizarre visual show that is often going on overhead? Here, against the clean and mathematically perfect face of this building, neatly divided into equal grids of alternating shades of blue, appear bizarre visual monstrosities. A red construction crane warps upwards and leans precariously to the right as its upper elements simply fall apart into twists and curlicues. Sections of the reflected buildings are alternately minimized and expanded to gross degrees, and if you look closely at the resulting patterns you might find anything from aerial fish to faces to whatever else you want to imagine.

Morning Musings

My Place. Your Place. Their Place (Morning Musings 11/7/14)

November 7, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

My place is California, and within California are special locations that I have visited over a lifetime — such as “my Sierra.” Many years ago these places were new to me, and at one time the Sierra Nevada was a place of my imagination, known mostly by reading about it and looking at photographs of the highest portions of the range. Today, decades later, I do not claim to know everything about the range — that would be an impossibility! — but when I go to the Sierra most of the experiences have more of a feeling of renewing a long acquaintance than of discovering something new. The rhythms of the place are familiar, as are the details — the sounds of creeks and wind and boots on the dry trails, that light, the plants, the way that forests alternate with granite and meadows, the timberline meadows, the rugged peaks, and much more. I like to say that I have come to know particular trees and rocks.

I recently spent some time in the American Southwest with friends who know that place as well as I know mine. Visiting this area is a very different experience for me — in some ways it reminds me of when I “discovered” the Sierra so many years ago and everything was new. I see the sandstone, the canyons and arches, the pinyon pine and juniper as new and novel. There is so much to see… and so much to miss! Traveling down one small canyon with my friends I felt that I was engaged with this landscape, but soon realized that I was not seeing half of what they have learned to see. I walked down washes and saw gravel, while they saw the abundant evidence of people who had lived there long before we visited and who had left behind bits of stone tools and pottery and rock art and even their homes. Watching my friends navigate their home range made me conscious of how I know mine… and of how much I have to learn about theirs.

At one point, one of them directed us away from our main route and up a side canyon. He asked us to be sure to walk on rocks rather than sand so that we would leave no tracks — this was not a place to encourage too many others to visit. Soon we found out why. At the base of one sandstone cliff there was rock art, with its enigmatic forms and patterns. Bits of worked stone were all around in the dirt, if you knew what to look for. We found a beautiful red arrowhead, marveled at it for a moment, and then put it back. Nearby, on the other side of the canyon, was a high place where these earlier people had lived, and where we found the evidence of their presence. Before long we walked on and rejoined the main route and went about our photographic business, separating from one another as we worked different subjects.

I was alone when my turn-around time arrived late in the afternoon, and I began to walk back toward our starting point. When I came to the side canyon once again I took a quick trip back up there alone and pondered this site by myself in the early evening quiet. I thought about what it must have been like to live a life in such a place. I imagined that on an evening like this one the voices of children might have echoed across the canyon, and perhaps there might have been smells of food being prepared. And I thought about how these people must have known this place in ways that are barely comprehensible to those of us who come here today for a few days and then leave.

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment. Connections to photography may be tenuous at times!

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

Canyon Walls, Reflected Light

November 7, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light reflected from blue sky and sunlight canyon walls illuminates the lower reaches of a Utah slot canyon

On this day I visited — though just barely — an area of slot canyons in southern Utah. I rarely do much advance research when I plan to photograph in a new area, generally preferring to discover the place for myself. This has both advantages and disadvantages. I certainly make my share of missteps and sometimes miss spectacular locations on my initial visits. On the other hand, when I come with few preconceptions I am free to make my own relationship with these places and perhaps I am forced to look a bit more carefully at what I see.

I had a vague plan to visit an area where there are some fairly well-known features, though I did not plan to visit the most popular of them, preferring to avoid the need to special permits and the attendance line-waiting. So I got a map (one without a lot of detail) and figured out where to find a gravel side road to a place with a name I had heard of, and I headed that direction. I parked at another place with a name that sounded familiar, loaded up and started walking down a valley with a good size wash. Soon the walls closed in on both sides and I entered an area of slot canyon. There is much to see and feel in these canyons, but my attention is often focused on the light, which does astonishing things when it bounces down between higher red rock canyon walls. As I came to this spot I was taken aback by the intensity of the brilliant blue tones when open sky reflected on the shiny surface of the rock, contrasting with the intense reddish tones of red rock illuminated by red reflected light, and creating almost sensuous forms in the rock walls.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

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Dissipating Structures

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Canyon Walls, Reflected Light

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

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