Tag Archives: buildings

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Overlooking The Duoro

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Overlooking The Duoro
The Duoro River winding through Porto, Portugal on a hazy afternoon.

You would be wrong if you thought that I had shared all of the photographs from our 2023 Europe travels! I came back with more than 5000 image files. I’ve traversed the full set a few times, and there are a lot more photographs there for me to finalize. This one comes from our stay in Porto, Portugal, on a warm late afternoon when a random walk took us past this viewpoint above the Duoro River, at a park where the locals were hanging out.

We wander quite a bit when we travel. In fact, just plain walking around and discovering things is probably our favorite activity. This has some downsides — sometimes our approach means that we miss important things. But there are benefits: we see things that folks on the usual tourist itinerary may miss, sometimes we end up talking to people, and we have an experience that is closer to discovering (rather than being led to) things.

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: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Wild, Manhattan

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Urban Wild, Manhattan
Tightly packed buildings and large trees, Manhattan.

Urban Wild, Manhattan. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Tightly packed buildings and large trees, Manhattan.

This photograph embodies something about Manhattan that I’ve mentioned before: For such an intensely urban place, there are a lot of examples of the natural world. It isn’t the kind of (ostensibly) “pure” nature that we see in the America West, but I sometimes think that its close juxtaposition with the city environment almost makes it more precious. We have whole forests out here in California, but in Manhattan a single tree can sometimes mean almost as much.

I saw this scene from the High Line Park as we walked its length last November. To those of use used to living with more space around and between us, the closeness of urban abodes along this park is surprising, and it almost seems voyeuristic to take a long look through the trees in someone’s tiny yard.

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

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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ladies Pavilion, Central Park

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Ladies Pavilion, Central Park
The historic Ladies Pavilion at the Lake on an autumn day in Central Park, Manhattan.

Ladies Pavilion, Central Park. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The historic Ladies Pavilion at the Lake on an autumn day in Central Park, Manhattan.

Discovering that this place is called the “Ladies Pavilion” was a bit of a surprise. I have been to this spot quite a few times, and I had seen the small building. But as I worked on the photograph I decided to find out more. It was originally constructed over 150 years ago as a shelter for carriage riders in a different location, then moved here in the early 1900s. Over the decades it languished and was in ruins before it was restored in the 1970s. It is has a beautiful view of The Lake and the Manhattan skyline.

The photograph was almost an afterthought. When we arrived here I went around to the other side of Hernshead, the rocky feature on the left side of the frame, where I photographed the lake. Then I came back this direction and walked past the pavilion to photograph some nearby foliage. But this little structure kept calling to me, and I finally stopped to photograph it with The Lake and the urban skyline beyond.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | 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: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Orvieto Rooftops

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Orvieto Rooftops
Stone and tile buildings of Orvieto, Italy.

Orvieto Rooftops. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Stone and tile buildings of Orvieto, Italy.

Our 2023 European travels took us mostly (with only a few day’s worth of exceptions) to the southern part of the continent. We spent a lot of time in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Croatia… and also visited Kosovo and briefly passed through places including Austria, Hungary, Serbia, and Montenegro. Along the way we did visit some of the very popular places, those that are predictably crowded during the summer tourist season. But we also managed to spend time in some slightly less-visited places, among them a couple of smaller towns in Italy.

One of these was the “hilltop town” of Orvieto in Umbria. It would not be accurate to suggest that this is a place without tourists. In fact, it is a very popular destination for daytime visits from other nearby locations. But we stayed there for a couple of nights and saw a different aspect of the place. In the mornings and after day-trippers depart in the late afternoon it is much quieter and far less crowded. In fact, it turned out to be one of our favorite places of the entire trip.

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.