Tag Archives: bright

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

Aspen Trunks, Autumn

Leave a comment
Aspen Trunks, Autumn

Aspen Trunks, Autumn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A row of bare, white aspen tree trunks in front of a grove of trees in full autumn color, Sierra Nevada, California.

Since I like both the wild colors of autumn aspens and the stark bare white trunks of the trees after the leaves fall, it is should be no surprise that this scene attracted me – in the front is a row of trees that had lost their leaves and behind is a small grove with wild yellow, gold, and red leaves.

I photographed this group of trees in soft afternoon light in the upper reaches of the drainage below South Lake where the sun drops behind higher ridges early at this time of year. The aspen conditions were a bit unusual here when I visited: some trees that had changed colors earlier had lost all or most of their leaves due to a cold snap and some very strong winds, but other trees seemed to be late in changing colors and were still green.

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
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: aspen, tree, trunk, bare, leaf, leaves, gold, red, yellow, branch, grove, stand, thicket, bright, brilliant, fall, autumn, season, color, grass, south, lake, bishop, creek, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, landscape, nature, flora, plant, foliage, change, eastern, scenic, travel, stock

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

Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit

Leave a comment
Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit

Aspen Leaves Near Conway Summit. Sierra Nevada, California. September 27, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen leaves take on fall colors in the middle of a grove near Conway Summit, California.

This is more or less my first autumn aspen color photograph of the 2009 season. Near the end of September I was in the Sierra for a few days, mostly to backpack into Cathedral Lakes for a bit of photography – but after emerging from that trip I had just enough time for a quick trip over Tioga Pass to the “east side” near Lee Vining and then around Conway Summit and Virginia Lake.

In the past I’ve found that the aspens up high on the road to Virginia Lake seem to change fairly early, and they have often lost their leaves even while trees elsewhere are still in good condition. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to try to make an early trip up this road. As you start up the Virginia Lake Road from Conway Summit you soon begin to pass some fairly large groves of aspen trees. The first grove, along the right side of the road, was still almost completely green. However, just up the road from here and on the left side is another grove at the turn-off for a gravel road – and this grove was in great shape. Many of the leaves had turned golden, and a few had turned hues of red and orange. At the same time there were still quite a few green leaves and only a few leaves had fallen.

As the sun dropped closer to the high ridge of the Sierra crest above Virginia Lake, the east side of this grove began to fall into shade – which can be the best of conditions for photographing the intense colors of these leaves.

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
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: aspen, tree, branch, twig, leaf, leaves, red, yellow, gold, green, vein, fall, autumn, season, color, bright, conway, summit, highway, 395, virginia, lake, road, grove, tree, forest, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, nature, scenic, travel, foliage, flora, eastern, plant, stock

Commentary

Building 101, Corner View

Leave a comment
Building 101, Corner View

Building 101, Corner View. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The corner of building 101 under artificial light and with fog overhead – Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Like I said, I guess I’m not finished with this series yet.

This is the same Building 101 that I photographed from several different perspectives late in the evening of my August 30 visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California to do night photography with some other Flickr folks. The other photographs of Building 101 are straight on and explore various portions of the front of the building. For this one I shot straight at the corner of the building instead, for several reasons. For one, I wanted to include the different types of light striking the two visible sides of the building. Almost all of the light is artificial aside from a bit of moonlight, but the light striking the right side comes from a very close and bright – and very yellow! – sodium vapor light. It was all I could do to handle the saturated yellows on this wall. The front of the building is lit by lights that are a bit weaker, though they only appear less garish by comparison to the almost hallucinatory yellow light on the right side. Above this are some interesting converging angles of roof and walls and overhead the fog glows in the artificial light from sources below.

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
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, building, structure, 101, yellow, artificial, light, bright, window, door, roof, pipe, wire, metal, texture, rust, peeling, dilapidated, old, worn, out, shadow, reflection, grafitti, paint, urban, industrial, lamp, fog, overcast, sky, glow, stock

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

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

2 Comments
Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of very brightly painted yet terribly dilapidated doorways near the border of Chinatown and North Beach, San Francisco, California.

A question: If you are wandering about in The City (or the city ;-)  and carrying a camera, how can you not photograph something like this?

These wildly painted yet badly dilapidated doors are on a relatively nondescript street more or less along the boundary between Chinatown and North Beach.

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
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: bright, color, yellow, gold, red, blue, aqua, psychedelic, doors, two, pair, window, run down, dilapidated, worn, paint, glass, mail, slot, knob, lock, 1432, 1430, arch, doorway, entrance, wall, purple, peeling, flag, decal, tile, step, mat, frame, crack, north beach, chinatown, urban, downtown, street, san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, local, sidewalk, gaudy, stock