Tag Archives: art

Museum Windows, Central Park

Museum Windows, Central Park
Visitors sit in a Metropolitan Museum window overlooking Central Park, Manhattan

Museum Windows, Central Park. New York City. December 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors sit in a Metropolitan Museum window overlooking Central Park, Manhattan

At the end of 2017 we spent a week in New York City, mostly visiting our “kids,” but also visiting the city itself. It was a very cold week! Daytime temperatures stayed below freezing — sometimes way below — for five days straight, and nighttime temperatures were in the low teens. On a warm day in New York, it is great to be outside. On winter days like these it is also great to be outdoors in Manhattan… just not for very long! On this day we eventually joined the throngs headed to warm museums, picking the Met, where there is a big David Hockney exhibit that I wanted to see.

I photograph in New York often enough to begin to understand the place a little bit — though nowhere near to the level of those who live there. But I still have plenty to discover, and on this trip I discovered — realized, more accurately — in a conscious way how good the light can be there. This is especially so, I think, in winter. The sun is low in the sky and its light often comes in a low angles, reflecting and silhouetting, and frequently appearing right in my frame of view. I made this photograph quickly while walking through a hallway at the museum where groups of people were taking a break on the ledge of these windows, against the bright backdrop of a soft-focus view of Central Park trees and a bit of the Manhattan skyline.


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

Hockney Observed

Hockney Observed
Two museum visitors observe a David Hockney Painting

Hockney Observed. New York City. December 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two museum visitors observe a David Hockney Painting

We have been in New York City during the past week or so, on one of our frequent trips to visit sons and daughters-in-law there… and of course to also simply be in New York. (And, did I also mention “eat in New York?”) It has been cold — something like 10-15 degrees below normal during our visit — and among the practical cold weather activities here are museum visits. We already knew we wanted to see this David Hockney exhibit — we had seen the big Hockney exhibit in San Francisco a few years ago, and we just saw a SF Opera production of “Turandot” that used a Hockney-designed set.

So we joined the throngs on a very cold day at the Metropolitan Museum and went inside to see this exhibit. (Having not done our research ahead of time, we were unaware of the Michelangelo show also taking place, but we managed to visit that, too.) The exhibit was, not surprisingly, very popular and crowded, with a variety of work from across Hockney’s career — lots of the usual stuff, including two of his Grand Canyon landscape paintings. I made this photograph as two people stopped to view one of them.


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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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

AVIAN: Birds in a Changing World

AVIAN: Birds in a Changing World opened this week at Gallery Five in Oakhurst, California and runs through January 14. The gala reception is this Saturday, December 9th at 4:00-8:00PM at Gallery Five — 40982 Hwy 41, Suite 5, Oakhurst.

The juried exhibition features work by more than 60 artists, and includes two of my photographs.

Snow Goose Maelstrom
Snow Goose Maelstrom
Black-necked Stilt Taking Flight
“Black-necked Stilt Taking Flight” — Black-necked Stilt Taking Flight

I’m going to make it a full “avian day” on Saturday, greeting the dawn and a few thousand of my avian friends in the Great Central Valley before heading on over to Oakhurst for the reception. Hope to see some of you there!

You can find out more at the exhibition’s Facebook page.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photogra


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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.

A Gathering

A Gathering
“A Gathering” — Nightime Segway riders gather around a glowing structure.

I thought about calling this “Gathering Of Segway Creatures Before The Giant Glowing Orb,” but that seemed to be going too far. A bit too far, anyway. Last night I joined my fellow night photographers from Studio Nocturne SF for a bit of camaraderie and photography in the San Francisco night. We started at the iconic Alamo Park (the location of the oft-photographed “painted ladies”), and I’m either embarrassed or proud to say that it was the first time I have gone there with a camera. I can also report that I did not photograph the “ladies,” instead wandering around with a tripod-less camera in the dark and photographing other things.

We then adjourned to the waterfront, where we spent some time photographing in another (justifiably) popular location. This light sculpture and some other features cast interesting and varying kinds of colored light on the scene, and I spent quite a bit of time searching out and photographing subjects that were transformed by the colorful light. But when these folks suddenly showed up I quickly switched my attention them, and I managed to squeeze of one handheld photograph before they disappeared into the night once again. As is so often the case, night photography brings some unusual events and experiences. Shortly after this, as I walked along a deserted walkway on a pier, three police officers suddenly appeared, rushing towards me. Fortunately, they weren’t interested in me and they passed right by. Within minutes there were a half-dozen police cruisers and two fire trucks in the neighborhood. San Francisco — never a dull moment…


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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.