Tag Archives: blue

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

Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum

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Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum

Detail, Contemporary Jewish Museum. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California.

I’ve been watching this structure since the time it was under construction, and I have frequently walked past it, thought about making photographs… and not quite been able to figure out what to do with the subject. The building is an intriguing and slightly confusing combination of old-style (not shown here) and rather modern architecture, and it is embedded in a visually busy location surrounded by tall buildings and an old Catholic church. I actually have some earlier photographs of this same portion of the building (though shot from a different angle) that I haven’t posted, as I’m still pondering how to handle them.

On this visit, during a long “photography walk” across a good portion of The City, I passed by here and was intrigued with the juxtaposition of stark angles and different colors and textures.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, city, contemporary, jewish, museum, cube, blue, modern, art, culture, window, pattern, structure, architecture, building, tower, perspective, downtown, urban, new, design, shadow, texture, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Cattail and Grasses, Morning Light

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Cattail and Grasses, Morning Light

Cattail and Grasses, Morning Light. Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cattail stands among dry summer grasses at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

The next in the series – and, yes, there will likely be more! – of photographs of cattails and grasses from a recent morning shoot at Castillero Pond, not far from where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In these photographs I was playing with a whole series of ideas: the color and form of the late-season summer cattails in the warm morning side-lighting, the effect of blurring out the background of grasses and pond water, and the interesting color palette of yellow/gold, green, and blue. To a certain extent, I was also “going with the flow” since I had arrived at this pond with no strong preconceptions about what I would shoot- I had vague ideas concerning oak trees and open grassland and possibly photographing birds as I passed the pond – and then ended up being distracted by well over an hour by the subject of this series.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, cat, tail, cattail, plant, blade, stem, branch, seed, bokeh, blur, blue, green, golden, central, northern, light, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Cattails, Morning Light

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Cattails, Morning Light

Cattails, Morning Light. Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Summer cattails in morning light at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

OK, this time no alpine scene from high meadows near the crest of the Sierra – instead a cattail growing along the bank of a small pond perhaps ten miles from my home at a place where I frequently hike. This morning I decided to get up early and head out here with no particular photographic goal in mind. When I arrived at the pond I thought I might photograph some birds – in fact, I just missed photographing my local egret, which flew away just as I was getting out my camera. So, instead of photographing the birds – and instead of continuing on for a longer morning hike – I spent more than an hour here photographing the cattails and patterns of summer grasses in the morning light.

Yesterday I visited SF MOMA to see two photographic shows – the photographs of Richard Avedon in one and the photographs of Ansel Adams and paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe in the other. As I looked at the out of focuse patterns of grasses, such as those in the background of this photograph, I thought about the colors and patterns of the O’Keeffe paintings.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, light, blue, gold, brown, yellow, green, bokeh, stalk, seed, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake

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Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake

Unnamed Pond Near Blue Lake. Sabrina Basin, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 6, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small pond among rocks and forest on the trail above Blue Lake, John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada.

This scene falls, I think, into the category of “typical Sierra Nevada scene.” Anyone who has backpacked into the higher portions of the range has walked past and perhaps stopped at many little ponds like this one. It is in a glacier-formed granite landscape of shallow soil, exposed smooth rock formations, and many rocks and boulders left behind by the glacier. Lush grasses grow around the pond for a few short weeks every summer and the peaks of the Sierra crest are just visible though the taller trees.

This small pond is along the trail between Blue Lake and Dingleberry Lake, not far from Blue Lake. The trail crosses the outlet stream and the skirts the far shore before heading on to higher terrain.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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