Tag Archives: black

Bicycles, Heidelberg

July 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bicycles parked against the wall of a building of the Heidelberg University, Germany

There are many things that seem to characterize Heidelberg, especially the old portion of the town: the historic character of the buildings, the crowds of visitors, the university, the very young population, and the huge number of bicycles. A hint: it sees that the last three items in that list are related. It seems like everyone is riding a bicycle, the vast majority of which are similar sorts of very practical bikes, and not so much the racing bikes or mountain bikes that I tend to see in the US. Folks seem to use them to get everywhere – school, work, shopping, out to meet friends. Given this, it isn’t surprising that bicycles are also parked nearly everywhere, sometimes in huge numbers and other times in small groups, as in this photograph. (It took me a few close calls to figure out that there are bike lanes marked on some of the sidewalks in Heidelberg – I never did completely develop instincts for this while I was there.)

This group of the ubiquitous “work” bikes was parked outside a building belonging to Heidelberg University. The bikes themselves often seem interesting to me, but this little scene was also full of the sorts of features and details that always attract my attention – the colorful patterns of the building, along with its geometrical shapes, the cobbled street and sidewalk with rows of stones leading toward the entry door and the curve of the lighter stones separating sidewalk and street.

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

Spring, Oaks, El Capitan Meadow

July 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green grass and new oak leaves, El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite Valley

Probably almost anyone who has photographed in Yosemite Valley much can recognize this sort of scene and perhaps even think of some favorite spots to find black oak trees with new spring growth, set in meadows and backed by forest. Even though this is a very dry year in The Valley – and in almost all of California – around the beginning of May the annual “greening” of the Valley did take place, and this photograph was made during that period.

When lit from behind and above, the light coming through the new oak leaves is luminous and the colors can take on an intensity that sometimes cause me to describe this as the “impossibly green season” in California. Perhaps it is because the state is brown, tan, or gray during so much of the year that the spring green seems so intense.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man, Blue Building

July 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A man walks into the sun in front of a blue building, San Francisco, California

This building is, indeed, very blue. I passed it in the low angle morning light shortly after getting off the Caltrain and starting to walk up into the City. The area along Fourth Street seems to change each time I visit and the balance between very funky old businesses and so forth versus newer and slightly hipper stuff continues to shift toward the latter. I’m not sure what this building is, but I’m pretty certain that it is no longer some sort of garage or mechanical shop.

The first thing that caught my attention about this building was, no surprise, the blue color. I thought about how I could arrange the components of the shot to include only blue and white elements, but given the lens I was working with and a few other factors, that wasn’t possible – so there is a bit of brick wall at the upper right intruding into the blue sky. I’m starting to like it. Two other things that I saw here were the angled shadow and the trash collection bins. The two of them and the square shadow on the roll-up door seem to create a sort of pattern, and the walking person – also in a dark jacket and with a shadow, seems to bisect the space between the far right shadow and the middle bin. Without the figure, the shot didn’t seem all that interesting to me, so I employed a technique I often use when shooting urban subjects like this: compose and wait for something/someone to walk into the frame.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Trees, Spring

July 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Oak trees with new spring leaves, Yosemite Valley, California

Oak trees are found throughout many parts of California – from near the coastline, through the inlands hills and valleys, and up into the foothills of the Sierra and other mountain ranges. They often are part of an oak/grassland environment that can range from mostly-grass-with-a few-oaks to mostly-oaks-with-some-grass. They are found in many places in Yosemite Valley, especially where meadows create the sunny locations that they seem to prefer.

These specimens are in El Capitan Meadow (often just called “El Cap Meadow”) at the base of its namesake monolith, and a location favored my many Yosemite photographers over the years. I was there in early May to see the Yosemite Renaissance exhibit once more before it closed and to do some springtime photography. I usually think of oaks as being rather “dry” trees, but for a short time in the spring as new leaves appear, their color makes them have an almost lush appearance, especially when lit by low angle light and when seen against the dark and shadowed walls of the Valley.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: black

Bicycles, Heidelberg

Spring, Oaks, El Capitan Meadow

Walking Man, Blue Building

Oak Trees, Spring

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