Tag Archives: bridge

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Seated People, Dog

October 8, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Seated people with a white dog in front of Florence shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge across the Arno River in Florence, and it is covered with buildings, giving it a very different appearance than the typical cross-river bridge. Shops line the bridge and are open during the day, with some staying open into the evening.

It is, of course, a popular tourist spot — and we were tourists! When we walked across the first time it was close to sunset and the place was packed to the point that it was difficult to walk. There was the typical assortment of street artists, musicians, and men hawking cheap souvenirs. The lights were just coming on when I saw this small group of people and their dog sitting on the curb, somehow finding a way to look almost isolated in the midst of the crowd.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Big Creek Bridge

July 17, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Mountains drop into the Pacific ocean at Big Creek Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

Back in January, probably on a hunt for big winter Pacific surf, I headed down the Pacific Coast Highway through the Big Sur Coast, making it all the way to the southern end of this spectacular route. This is often a very rugged meeting of land and sea, and in places the tall coastal mountains drop directly into the ocean. In order to find a path through this landscape, the road sometimes hugs the waterline and sometimes ascends high into these mountains.

If I recall correctly, I initially stopped here to scope out a possible photograph of the golden hour, with the plan being to stop here again on the way north. (In fact, that is what happened, and I did get a few good photographs of the spot in evening light — before the sun dropped below an offshore fog bank and the light died!) The bridge spans (with double arches) the end of the valley where Big Creek meets the ocean. On this afternoon a big winter swell was coming in from the northwest and producing lines of big waves.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Natural Bridge, Evening Fog, and Coastal Mountains

June 5, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light on the mountains, coast, and incoming fog along the Big Sur coast

Yesterday I shared a Big Sur Coast photograph — looking north and in black and white. Today’s post is a counterpoint to that one — it looks south and is in color. Both were made late on the same day, and in the same general central area of this rugged coast. It was late in the day and I was looking for an ideal last photographic location of the day, and from this particular overlook I could see down the coast… and the light was going to go before I had time to find another spot!

In many ways I suppose the view is typical. The view extends into the distance where it disappears into fog and coastal haze, and the coastline is an alternating landscape of shallow bays and jutting peninsulas where mountain ridges drop into the ocean. Here and there are the remnants of ridges and bluffs that lost their battle with the ocean long ago, and which now remain only as isolated rock and sea stacks set off from the shoreline. One of the most impressive of them in this photograph is right below the camera position where a large rocky formation is cut through by a natural bridge.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reclining Man, San Francisco Bay

June 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man rests along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay

It is usually not my habit to photograph the down and out, homeless people, and other photographic clichés — I often (though not quite always) feel that such photography can be too easy, can create a false impression of concern and engagement, and that the invasion of the subject’s privacy may raise some ethical questions that concern me. But like most rules, there are exceptions, and this subject seemed to be one for me.

There was something about this man, reclining quietly in the sun along this popular stretch of San Francisco’s scenic waterfront that has, looked at it certain ways, a kind of nobility. Something about him and his location and pose reminds me of certain Renaissance paintings. And, frankly, his appearance seems to me to coalesce and possibly completely change what would otherwise simply be another scenic San Francisco urban landscape photograph.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: bridge

Seated People, Dog

Big Creek Bridge

Natural Bridge, Evening Fog, and Coastal Mountains

Reclining Man, San Francisco Bay

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