Tag Archives: black and white

Bill Everett, Bass

January 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This photograph of principal double-bassist Bill Everett practicing backstage at a concert of the Symphony Silicon Valley is among my favorites so far from my three-year project photographing professional classical musicians. During this project I have extensive access to the performers and backstage areas, and I’m attending many rehearsals and concerts – so many and over such a long period that I am able to develop personal relationships with the musicians, find and use interesting little bits of stage lighting that others might miss, and learn to see and photograph elements of the musicians’ work that others might miss.

As I have worked the rehearsal and performance halls I have gradually learned a lot about subtle lighting opportunities in the backstage areas. I know keep an eye out for people who wander into this prime light spots, and when I see them there I quickly take advantage of the opportunity. Bill had, likely with no conscious thought, located himself directly between a backstage work light and essentially cast a vertical spotlight on him and his instrument. I stood nearby with a medium long lens and was able to make several photographs of him as he focused his attention on a bit of music from the performance.

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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: Nature, Photographs: New York City

Winter Trees, Central Park

December 30, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Low-angle late afternoon sun on winter trees casts shadows across Central Park lawns, New York City

For this photographer, New York provides a much wilder landscape than anything in the Sierra – though here “wild” may have a slightly different meaning. I like New York a lot, and I find the pace and density energizing, at least for a while. Most of the time, it provides an almost completely different sort of shooting for me (with only some of my San Francisco photographs being a bit similar in concept). I shoot entirely handheld, with a small camera, and almost entirely with a single prime lens. (Contrary to what you’ll here, a reason for shooting with the prime is that it requires less thought, since there are fewer options to consider, thus allowing me to work a lot faster.) I make many photographs, the great majority of which are not wonderful and which will never been seen by anyone else. But every so often something happens in front of the camera that is worth the search.

But this is not that kind of photograph. It was shot handheld and using that very same prime lens, but it is a landscape. On this afternoon in Central Park the winter sun was low in the sky, and beautiful light filtered through hazy sky. There were thousands of people out in the park, having a different sort of “outdoor experience” than I’m used to – not a solitary sort of thing at all. There was the usual assortment of pedicab and carriage rides, food stands, people walking dogs, bike riders and runners… and always beyond the winter-bare trees the skyline of tall buildings. In this corner of the park I found a place to point my camera towards some trees and into the low afternoon sun.

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

River Bank and Cottonwood Trees

November 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A thicket of small cottonwood trees leans toward the Merced River, Yosemite National Park

When I first encountered this riverside thicket of small trees, I half-regarded them as a nuisance, believe it or not. My attention was focused on cottonwood trees on the opposite bank of the river and a bit downstream, and I was looking for a good vantage point where I could set up my tripod to photograph them. While I was intrigued by these closely-spaced trees and their beautiful autumn foliage, my initial orientation to them was affected by how difficult they made it to find a good spot for my tripod with a clear view of the other trees! (Yes, I did eventually find a small spot down by the edge of the water from which I could make that other photograph.)

After passing them I looked back and saw the way that the trees varied from almost perfectly vertical in the middle of the thicket to banding almost horizontally over the river closer to the bank in an attempt, I suppose, to find unobstructed sunlight. I knew there was a photograph in this scene but it was a bit tricky. Framing it the way I wanted required the use of a longer lens, but that introduced depth of field challenges. Initially I saw it as a color photograph, especially since the leaves on these cottonwoods were at their peak of intense autumn gold. However, working on the photograph later, it seemed to me that the color wasn’t the main story in this scene, and that a black and white rendition might do a better job of highlighting the varied yet related forms of those tree trunks, and still capture the beautiful side-light coming from across the river and down the Valley at this very late afternoon hour.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fallen Snag, Dry Tarn

November 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This year was the second of two very dry years in the Sierra Nevada and much of the west. The snowfall this past winter (2012-13) was far below normal and set records in some places. Last October and November it seemed like we might be starting a very wet season, which would have been welcome after the previous winter’s low levels of precipitation, but then the tap was shut off near the end of the year and there was hardly any more precipitation at all during the rest of the season, the portion when the majority of the Sierra’s precipitation falls. Consequently, this has been a strange summer in the Sierra. Although there may have been more monsoonal rain the usual, the effects of the depleted snow pack are obvious. The spring run-off occurred early and was anemic. By July much of the Sierra looked more like August, and I was already seeing signs of fall by early August.

With all of this in mind, it was no surprise to use to find some unusually dry conditions in the Kings Canyon back-country when we visited for more than a week in mid-September. (Though, in some ways, things were less horrendous than I might have expected. Perhaps this was a combination of going at a time when things tend to be dry anyway and, as a local pointed out to me, some recent summer rains.) On our first day at the location where we stayed to photograph for nearly a week I wandered up some nearby meadows towards a lake that I though I might want to photograph. Very close to my campsite I found several completely dry tarns. (A “tarn” is a seasonal pond fed by snowmelt, and many of them dry up each season.) This very old, sun bleached snag lay across the exposed rocks of this one, creating a stark images.

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” from Heyday Books, is available directly from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: black and white

Bill Everett, Bass

Winter Trees, Central Park

River Bank and Cottonwood Trees

Fallen Snag, Dry Tarn

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