Tag Archives: america

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

Cliffs, Trees, and Morning Light

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Cliffs, Trees, and Morning Light
“Cliffs, Trees, and Morning Light” — Morning light highlights trees high on sandstone cliffs in Kolob Canyon

The Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park is less visited than the areas near Springdale, Utah. It is a significant drive away, and the park service has (wisely?) left it relatively undeveloped — a very small visitor center, no restaurants, just a road into a very beautiful area with a lot of trailheads.

We visited this area on a fall morning when the light was just coming over the tops of the tall cliffs to the east and backlighting some beautiful atmospheric haze. Photographing these juxtaposed rock faces and buttresses with a long lens, not only was distance telescoped but the haze softened the scene even more than it otherwise might and muted the colors a bit. There is a lot of small detail in this scene, but most of it is suppressed, with the exception of the thin edges of light on the rock and the backlit trees.

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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

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman Walking, Brick Building

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Woman Walking, Brick Building
Woman Walking, Brick Building

Woman Walking, Brick Building. New York City. August 16, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman carrying a cup walks past the front of a red and white brick building

I think I made this photograph west of Central Park, but no guarantees. (I could probably figure it out by reviewing the photographs before and after this one, but it doesn’t seem too important. Let me know if you disagree!)

This is representative of one way I shoot urban subjects. I’m pretty certain that what happened here first was that I saw the interesting colors and forms of the tall building, with its red bricks and pure white trim, steps, and neat black fence. I also saw the juxtaposition of the irregular and natural forms of the two trees (and a few other bits of greenery) with the rigid and angular forms of brick and trim. No doubt, at about that point I saw the woman walking up the street — so I framed the photograph and waited for her to enter the frame, timing a quick series of three shots as she passed in front of the building carrying her cup of coffee, an iconic signifier of the new urban resident.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Fractured Slab

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Fractured Slab
Fractured Slab

Fractured Slab. Yosemite National Park, California. September 7, 2014.© Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stained and fractured rock slabs in the Yosemite National Park backcountry

This “intimate landscape” photograph of what is, objectively speaking, no more than a crack separating two pieces of granite actually tells a number of more interesting and complex stories. At least one of them is a story of the events of the day on which the photograph was made, while others are much older stories, bits of which can be seen in the rocks.

The story of this day involved wildfire. On the day we arrived at our camp in this area, the Yosemite “Meadow” fire took off in the area bounded roughly by Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and Mount Starr King. There was barely any smoke visible in the early morning, but as winds rose to surprising levels, the fire took off… and by late in the day the sky was filled with smoke that sometimes blotted out the sun and turned the sky an odd yellow-brown color. These rocks are stained a sort of reddish-brown, but the warm colors are enhanced a great deal by this smoky light. The older stories are complex and I cannot attempt to tell them completely here, but there are a few things to notice and think about in this rock scene. The area was glaciated, and the smooth rock surface at lower left and lower right is glacial polish, which provides evidence of the slow, grinding passage of an ancient glacier. The crack in the exfoliated granite provides evidence of other forces of weather that work slowly but irresistibly to weather and break up even this strong granite.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature

Colorful Giant Leaf

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Colorful Giant Leaf
Colorful Giant Leaf

Colorful Giant Leaf. Garden, The Huntington, San Marino, California. November 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A giant leaf with brilliant fall colors, photographed lying on the ground

I have no clue what kind of leaf this is, and the location where I found it gave no hints. Usually if I find such a thing I can just look up and see the tree from which it came, but when I looked up from this leaf I could see nothing nearby with leaves even close to this one.

The leaf is huge — in my recollection it was well over a foot long. It was on the ground between some cacti and/or succulent plants in a desert garden at the Huntington. The colors were wild, and if there had been a tree full of huge and intensely colorful leaves like this one I would not have missed it! Initially I was attracted by the bright yellow color and the size, but the closer I looked the more I found that the other surprising colors caught my attention — bits of green, a spot of purple, and red highlights along some of the vein structure.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.