Tag Archives: america

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Green Building and Tracks

December 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ambient light floods the side of a building and old railroad tracks with green-tinted light, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

A friend recently shared a photograph of a bit of curving railroad track, and I recognized it as being the same track that appears in this photograph from seven and a half years ago. I went back to look it up to share it with him, and in doing so I realized that I seem to have not shared it previously — so I’m rectifying that with this posting!

I have been photographing this location at night for over a decade now. I’m pretty certain that my first visit was back in 2003, when I happened to see an announcement of an event sponsored by The Nocturnes the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group. I had seen photographs made at night, of course, but it wasn’t anything that I had ever done, so I showed up. I was quickly hooked, especially when it comes to photographing urban and industrial areas in ambient light. This photograph is fine example of what attracts me about that light. If you were there in person, you would not really see anything quite like this — it was so dark that most of the details would be lost in shadow, the intense colors would be invisible to your eyes, and the only real details would be on the small lighted wall in the distance. But the camera can see what the eyes cannot. Here that includes not only the details in shadow areas, but also the wild colors that are produced by artificial lights.

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

Tree, Reflecting Puddles After Rain

December 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small pine grows from a crack at the end of a small rainwater pool reflecting golden morning light from overhead mountains

Among those who have visited this place, the small tree in this photo has perhaps become almost iconic — though, in truth, if you look you can find such trees all over the high Sierra. Each seems to me, upon reflection, to be a bit of a small miracle. Like this one, they often manage to grow in incredibly challenging circumstances. In addition to the usual stresses of the high country, these trees found themselves sprouting in a world of almost unbroken granite, perhaps finding barely enough water and soil in small cracks or shallow rainwater pools to get get started, but then constrained by these conditions to lives of very slow growth and a marginal existence. I missed it, but a friend who was there with me pointed out that this is actually a mature tree, producing seed-bearing cones and likely quite old.

The location is such that the tree is in shadow for a long time in the morning. I have photographed it at other times of day when the light is “better,” but I also like soft shade light and thought I’d give it a shot. Above and beyond this slab and the tree there are higher granite walls, and they catch the morning sun — and from just the right angles that golden glow is reflected in the pools around the tree, here filled by rain from the previous day.

Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Alpine Meadow, Artist Point

December 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Alpine meadow and mountains, Artist Point, North Cascades

Back in 2010 my brother Richard, who is a long-time resident of the Pacific Northwest, treated me to a trip up into the Cascades at Artist Point. We got lucky and had a day of largely clear skies, with the only clouds being the beautiful sort that catch the sun and allow beams of light to sweep across the landscape — not the other kind of Pacific Northwest clouds that sock things in and drizzle all day!

As a long time Sierra guy, I’m always amazed at how different things are in the Cascades and other Pacific Northwest mountains. The Sierra are, of course, mostly dry mountains. Yes, we get snow in the winter, runoff in the spring, and a few thunderstorms in the summer, but backpacking is mostly a dry weather thing and we are used to the sound of dry sand and rock beneath our boots. But here in the Cascades there are glaciers and ice caps, and the lush green plants grow right up to the snow line. On this visit we had only enough time to spend an afternoon wandering slowly around the Artist Point area, but I came back with a set of photographs that I like a great deal.

Night Photography, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

New York Sidewalk, Evening

December 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A busy New York City sidewalk in dusk light

We are fortunate to be able to visit New York City from time to time — perhaps once a year and occasionally more often. To anyone who thinks of me a “that landscape photographer guy,” it might seem a bit odd that I also love the intense urban environment of such a place — but I do. Although it can become overwhelming eventually — as almost everyone says, “I love to visit, but I couldn’t live there.” — it is also energizing. There is so much to see and do, whether or not it involves photography.

I always photograph when I visit New York. I photograph in a different way than I do when I’m out in the American West. For example, I work with handheld cameras and tend to work while on the move. But I think that I also see the place at least a bit through the eyes of a landscape photographer, and I think of the city as a place to photograph the “urban landscape.” Although I’ve done night photography for more than a decade, recently I’ve gotten more interested in handheld urban night street photography. This photograph of a little evening street scene with pedestrians walking in and out of the light pools cast from business windows is one example.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: america

Green Building and Tracks

Tree, Reflecting Puddles After Rain

Alpine Meadow, Artist Point

New York Sidewalk, Evening

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