Tag Archives: blue

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

Rectangular

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Color and Light Patterns
“Rectangular” — Patterns of color and light on an urban building, San Jose, California.

This photograph ties in with a couple of aspects of my photographic practice. I’ve always been fascinated by patterns, shapes, colors, and textures in the abstract. I think this is present even in photographs of mine that are not as clearly geometric as this one. In addition, I often photograph things that might seem mundane — every day places and objects.

Connected to that last point, I often carry a camera with me when I go out for non-photography purposes. I walk a lot — often miles every day. And I virtually never head out on a walk without a camera. Most often it stays in the bag and I don’t make any photographs. But every so often I see an interesting subject and, having the camera with me, I make photographs.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

House with Blue Trim

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House with Blue Trim
“House with Blue Trim” — A white hour with blue doors, Casals de Loivos, Portugal.

This past May we spent a week on a walk through the hills, villages, and vineyards of Portugal’s Douro Valley, completing a large loop that began and ended in the town of Pinhão. We walked every day, and stayed each evening in various local accommodations. The last of those was in the remarkable little village of Casals de Loivos, perched high above the Douro Valley.

On the final morning we were scheduled to do the short, pleasant (and entirely downhill!) walk from there to Pinhão, where we were scheduled to catch a train back to Porto. Before setting out from Casals de Loivos we wandered around the small village for a while. I found this striking little building on one of its streets.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Tufa, Island, Distant Mountains

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Tufa, Island, Distant Mountains
“Tufa, Island, Distant Mountains” — Shoreline tufa formations, an island, and distant mountains, Mono Lake.

This view looks roughly north across the expanse of Mono Lake and Mono Basin. The foreground formations are tufa towers, exposed as the lake’s level dropped decades ago when Los Angeles began taking the water from feeder streams. The main body of the lake lies beyond the tufa. What appears to be the far shoreline is actually Paoha Island, a volcanic feature. In the far distance are desert mountains of the basin and range country.

I knew some history about the fights over Mono Lake’s water, but I learned something new on this visit. A few decades ago Los Angeles Water and Power bought out water rights up and down the Eastern Sierra, drastically changing the environment — and in places turning former lakes into dusty wastelands. This taking dropped the level of Mono Lake by many feet (it was too late for Tule Lake in Owen’s Valley) until court orders and regulations forced an agreement that LA would begin to protect the watershed, with a goal of eventually restoring the lake to a level closer to its historic level. I thought that serious progress had been made… but decades later the lake’s level is still dangerously low.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Blue Hour: Lake and Fog

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Blue Hour: Lake and Fog
“Blue Hour: Lake and Fog” — Dusk fog rises from the surface of a subalpine lake reflecting a Sierra crest peak.

I had thought that I was done photographing for the evening when I passed this little lake and saw the fog rising in dusk light. The light was fading fast, so I quickly got out my tripod and set up for some relatively long exposures — this one was 15 seconds. The conditions arose after an afternoon and evening of rain ended and the skies began to clear, allowing fog to appear here and at every other similar body of water.

Photographs in these conditions — essentially twilight — test our understanding of what it means for a photograph to be “realistic.” The truth is that our eyes don’t see like this in extremely low light — so what you get here is a sort of “what the camera saw” image. (The eyes also do not interpolate drifting fog over a 15 second period!)

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

Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

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(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)