Tag Archives: black and white

Photographs: England, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Shad Thames

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Shad Thames
People walk along Shad Thames, London

Shad Thames. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People walk along Shad Thames, London.

This week the pandemic “voyage through the raw files archives” arrived in London, with photographs of a weeklong visit back in 2013. (I’m wanting to get to some Sierra Nevada photographs, but I’m sticking to a linear traverse of the archive, so I’m perhaps a month early for those.) As people whose travels have been largely in the US, this was our first visit to London. We had a great time — we were there on our own for a few days and then were joined by some of Patty’s family members. You’ll likely see more photos from the trip over the next week or two.

This fascinating little street, called Shad Thames, is near one end of the Tower Bridge in London, in an area that was historically a receiving area for commodities delivered by ship. (The area is also know as Butler’s Wharf.) Some decades ago, as modern shipping changed the market, the area apparently became somewhat run down but, as happens in big cities, it was revitalized and is now expensive and trendy. The narrow street still has cobbles, but the most striking features are the old bridges between the upper floors of the old warehouses.

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.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Sandstorm Rising

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Sandstorm Rising
Clouds from a desert sandstorm rise above Death Valley National Park sand dunes.

Sandstorm Rising. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from a desert sandstorm rise above Death Valley National Park sand dunes.

Today I am sharing yet another of the Death Valley photographs from my spring 2013 visit when, among other things, I had a couple of opportunities to photograph in sandstorm conditions. Like many photographers I tend to photograph this location early in the morning and late in the evening, when the light is softer and subtle colors emerge in the fascinating shapes of the dunes. But the stark midday light can be interesting too, especially when the light is softened and diffused by a dust-filled atmosphere.

My roots are in black and white film photography, and I still find myself leaning back in that direction fairly often. I feel that in many cases monochrome can let us see the subject more in terms of shapes, textures, tones — less as an attempt at literal representation of the subject and more about how we choose to interpret it. With monochrome we explicitly begin by accepting an interpretation that cannot be objectively accurate, since the world is (almost) never monochromatic. In addition, we have more freedom do things during the post-processing stages (as we did in the film era) that we probably could not get away with in color, and the result still register as being “true.”

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.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, Sandstorm, and Mountains

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Dunes, Sandstorm, and Mountains
A Death Valley sandstorm builds above sand dunes, obscuring distant desert mountains.

Dunes, Sandstorm, and Mountains. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Death Valley sandstorm builds above sand dunes, obscuring distant desert mountains.

Once again I am discovering how many promising photographs get left behind when I first assess them shortly after making the photographs… and how valuable it is to revisit the original files later on. I typically do a year-end review of the previous year’s raw files, but even then I miss a few. So I suppose that there is at least one good thing to come from the limits on photography in the pandemic era — the extra time available to go back and take a look at the old files with new eyes.

For the past week or two I have been digging into photographs from the late winter and early spring of 2013. These images include Death Valley photographs from that year’s annual visit to the park. On this day the ubiquitous Death Valley winds had risen, and a sandstorm was developing above the upper valley, blowing sand and dust southward toward these dunes. The wind was gusty, and rather than filling the atmosphere with uniform haze, tall clouds of dust and sand rose high into the sky as they traversed the landscape.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: People In Landscape

Abandoned

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Abandoned
Abandoned vehicles at a desert mining site.

Abandoned. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Abandoned vehicles at a desert mining site.

When you travel even a bit in the desert landscape (at least the California version that I know) you will come across evidence that you are not the first visitor. The original residents left behind fragile, compelling, and sometimes beautiful evidence in the form of rock art. (Treat them with respect, leave them as you found them, and don’t share their locations.) Later immigrants left traces that seem less attuned to the nature of the place. But over time, as they weather and degrade, they start to almost seem to be part of the landscape, and they make us pause and imagine coming to such a place to live and work. (Surprisingly, perhaps, some of these sites are only decades old.)

A bit of exploration in Death Valley National Park reveals many examples. Some, like this one, are not hard to find, and they may feel like intrusions in the landscape. Others are more remote and sometimes not immediately obvious. One of the most powerful experiences I had in this landscape came on my first visit years ago, when I wandered up a large fan and sat on a rock to rest. I happened to look down and notice one stone among the others — one that had been shaped for a purpose many years ago. I picked it up, turned it over in my hands, and tried to imagine the life of the person whose hands had shaped it. I put it back where I found it and returned to camp.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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