Tag Archives: black and white

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Northern California

Mountains, Lake, Peninsula

November 24, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A peninsula at San Luis Reservoir, with distant hills and autumn clouds

I often pass this location on my way to and from other places — the Sierra, Southern California, the deserts, the Southwest, bird photography locations — but I almost never stop, despite the fact that this can be a place of huge spaces and beautiful light and atmosphere. The reasons for passing it by are perhaps many: I’ve been by it many times over a period of many decades, it isn’t easy to find a place to pull over and stop, it is a manmade reservoir, and I’m usually more focused on getting to or coming back from one of those other places.

Recently I made my first trip of the season out to the migratory bird areas of the Central Valley where I like to do a lot of photography in the late-fall through winter months. This visit was perhaps a bit early for real bird photography, but it gave me a chance to get back to that area that I enjoy so much… and it was a foggy day! (The fog and hazy atmosphere of the Central Valley are major attractions for me.) The bird photography out there was merely OK on this visit and, as planned, I only stayed there for the morning before returning home. As I climbed past the huge earthen dam of this reservoir I was struck by the hazy sunlight on brown hills and the brilliantly bright clouds to the south across the expanse of the water. At first I kept going, but I soon came to my senses, found a place to turn around, and headed back to an overlook where I made a few photographs of this landscape.

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Photographs: Music & Musicians

Classical Musicians — Four Photographs

November 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This post includes a set of four black and white photographs from my ongoing project photographing classical musicians.

Musicians backstage preparing for the concert.

Musicians backstage at the California Theater, preparing for a Symphony Silicon Valley concert

Timpanist Robert Erlebach and conductor Karen Kamensek consult the score during a break in a Symphony Silicon Valley rehearsal

Conductor Karen Kamensek and violinist Allison “Gigi” Dang consult the conductor’s score during a rehearsal break

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

Chicago L Train

November 1, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Chicago L train crosses a downtown bridge.

Since I’m not a Chicago regular, much less a Chicago native, I get to report the obvious here — these things are all new to a visitor who is still discovering the town. Actually, I was already familiar with the Chicago L, the city’s elevated railway system, from my previous short visits. The L trains, many of which have a bit of the same attractive worn and dated quality of the New York subway system cars, travel on elevated tracks above the downtown area. The car in this photograph is on a bridge crossing the Chicago River in the downtown area.

I don’t know the whole story, though I think it involves the historic paths of railroads into the downtown area, but there are areas in downtown Chicago with multiple street levels. For example, if you drop down to some sections of the Riverwalk from the main roadway level, you arrive at another system of roadways that runs underneath. Add the L on top of that, and there are three transpiration layers in places.

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

East Madison Street

October 18, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Afternoon light on East Madison Street, Chicago

We had been in roughly the Millennium Park area for a good part of this day, wandering around and looking at stuff and visiting a museum, and we were (if I recall correctly) heading back toward our hotel in the late afternoon, planning to perhaps take a break before figuring out where to go for Chicago style pizza. (One goal on this trip was to have both Chicago and New York pizza. After all, pizza research is a solemn duty.)

I’ve noted elsewhere that Chicago’s tendency to combine tall downtown buildings with more open space allows a lot of beautiful light to reach down to ground level and it sometimes permits clearer views up and down streets. As we walked past this intersection, marking the end of East Madison, the late light was coming straight up the street from the west, though slightly hazy and soft atmosphere, striking the sides of buildings and silhouetting people and vehicles on the street. This was light to stop for!

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: black and white

Mountains, Lake, Peninsula

Classical Musicians — Four Photographs

Chicago L Train

East Madison Street

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