“Stream and Sandstone Cliff” — Sandstone cliffs at the bend in the canyon of a remote Utah river.
This is a photograph from over a decade ago. (More on how it ended up here today below.) A small group of us spent time photographing in Utah, often in remote places. One day we dropped into a canyon and followed this stream. As so often happens in these narrow, winding canyons, “one good turn led to another,” and we kept going as each bend revealed another interesting section. We finally stopped very close to this scene, made some final photographs, and headed back upstream.
“Merced River Bend” — Autumn cottonwood trees grow along a bend in the Merced River, Yosemite Valley.
I made this photograph late in the afternoon as long shadows began to stretch across the floor of Yosemite Valley, gradually leaving these trees in shade. Here the Merced River flows slowly through a flat section next to meadows and lined with big cottonwood trees. Although a few of these trees had lost their leaves, many were at peak color.
This is one of several spots in the Valley where I like to wander slowly and look for photographs. This particular spot used to be easily accessible, though increasing Valley crowds have forced the park service to downgrade access. It took me a while, but I found a trail that wasn’t off-limits.
“Douro River at Pinhão” — The Douro river bends past the town of Pinhão, with hillsides covered by vineyards.
I am going to use this post to give a shout-out to Portugal Green Walks, the company we used to organize our May walk in the Douro Valley hills. (I have no financial relationship with the company — just a pleased customer.) We spent a week in this region, walking on six days between cities in a loop that started and ended in Pinhão, the small town along the river bank near the lower edge of the photo. They could not have come up with a better conclusion to the walk. On the second-to-last day we rounded a hill and soon came upon this spectacular view of the Douro River and Valley.
A few minutes later we arrived at our lodgings, checked in, and walked out onto their terrace overlooking this view, where we enjoyed almonds from their orchard and a glass of wine. We truly felt that we had arrived as we sat and took in this remarkable scene. We were not quite finished yet — the next morning we had a short, easy downhill walk to Pinhão, where we began our trip back to Porto.
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“Sagging Building, York” — And old building with apparenlt serious structural issues, York, England.
York’s old town is known for “The Shambles,” an old area of narrow and sometimes-curving streets lined with very old shops and businesses. (The appearance in places is “Harry Potteresque,” something that shops are now promoting.) They seem to take pains to maintain the very old and slightly off-kilter appearance of the shops, but this particular building is a standout!
And, no, your screen is not melting. This building actually looks like this, leaning precariously to one side, with the walls of the lower floor appearing to be badly distorted and cracked. I did not enter the building, nor could I find a name for it (though the sign says that ghost tours meet there), but I can only hope that there is some interior reinforcement not visible from the street! (Someone suggested that the building is actually solid, and that it was designed to look this way. I have not been able to confirm that.)
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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