Tag Archives: blue

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fractured Stone

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Fractured Stone
Detail of a section of fractured Sierra Nevada rock, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Fractured Stone. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Detail of a section of fractured Sierra Nevada rock, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

At some point on almost any Sierra Nevada backcountry trip I get the bug to photograph rocks — just plain rocks. In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of them in these mountains, and their variety is astounding. I’m no geologist — I’m one of those folks who refers to too many things as “granite” — but I’m a bit of a connoisseur of fractures, stains, lichen, colors, and junctures between different materials.

Earlier on this backcountry visit I had realized that some outcroppings very close to our camp were full of interesting patterns, and I made a mental note to spend some time among them. A few days later, not having any other pressing subjects to photograph, I spent an evening walking slowly among these formations.

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: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Colorful Buildings

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Colorful Buildings
The boundary between two colorfully painted San Francisco buildings.

Colorful Buildings. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The boundary between two colorfully painted San Francisco buildings.

These two buildings appeared in another recent photograph, also shot straight on and focusing on the fascinating geometry and color scheme of the structure. The location is, broadly speaking, near North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf, on a less-travelled side street. The architecture is within the typical San Francisco model — multi-story residences packed wall-to-wall, right up against the sidewalks.

The colors, of course, caught my attention. But there are a few other things going on that also fascinate me. For one, there’s a sort of dissonance between the extremely regular and geometric features of the two residences… and the odd lack of alignment between things like the two windows, the lower edge of the windows in the doors, and the garage door on the left.

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 | Twitter | 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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Alpine Lake, Sunset Moonrise

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Alpine Lake, Sunset Moonrise
The half-moon rises over a ridge above a Yosemite backcountry lake.

Alpine Lake, Sunset Moonrise. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The half-moon rises over a ridge above a Yosemite backcountry lake.

This rugged ridge rises above the lake at which I camped for several days of Yosemite backcountry photography. During the day these slopes have an entirely different appearance, glowing brightly in the harsh daytime sunlight. Later they become blue as the sun leaves and evening shadows take over. But for a brief moment just before the sun dropped over the western horizon, the slopes were washed with this beautiful pink light as the moon rose over the ridge.

We often imagine that landscape photography is a slow, thoughtful process. It can be slow, and there are times when I wait a long time in one spot for the right thing to happen. But other times the landscape changes with remarkable speed. The edge-of-the-day morning and evening times often are in this category, as the light undergoes profound changes in minutes or even seconds.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sierra Crest, Blue Hour

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“Sierra Crest, Blue Hour” — Evening lenticular clouds over the Sierra crest and the Tuolumne River.

This is a reinterpretation of an old photograph, one that has long been a favorite but which I’m now looking at differently. Several issues surround the question of whether, when, and how to revise a photograph that you once considered definitive. The most obvious change is the aspect ratio — it formerly used the ubiquitous 4:3 ratio, but now I think it works better with this semi-panoramic presentation. (The old version lost the far right ridge and trees.) I’ve also rethought how I handle the blue tones — when I originally did the photograph I was shy about “going with the blue,” but more recently I’ve embraced it.

All of that background aside, this is a favorite photograph for a bunch of reasons. This was an incredible afternoon and evening of sky and light, and this was one of the final photographs of that day, made in the fading blue hour light. It still astonishes me that perhaps thousands of people were clustered around their campfires in a nearby campground, likely oblivious to this scene, as I stood in solitude along the bank of the river watching the show.

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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