Tag Archives: california

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Green Door, Evening

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Green Door, Evening
A weathered green door, a green wall, a sidewalk — evening light.

Green Door, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A weathered green door, a green wall, a sidewalk — evening light.

First, a brief description of the photography, and then another reason that I am posting it today. I made the photograph on one of my daily walks — I try to get out and cover various routes in a radius of a couple of miles or so that add up to between 3 and 5 miles on a typical day. I always carry a camera, even though I don’t take it out on most of the walks. I’ve been past this old building quite a few times, but today I saw this door for the first time, so I stopped to photograph its worn and tilting form.

The other reason this photograph is here is that it comes from what is for me a photography tradition: the process of getting up to speed on a new camera. I usually avoid upgrading cameras too frequently. There are many reasons, but one is that I depend upon knowing a camera’s interface to the point where operation is intuitive. But eventually I do get new cameras. This was the first walk with the new Fujifilm XT5, which is going to replace the (fine) XPro2 that I’ve been using since that camera was introduced. I won’t go into the technical details at this point, but so far I’m liking the camera a lot.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Valley to Summit

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Valley to Summit
Basin Mountain, as seen from the base of the Sierra Nevada.

Valley to Summit. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Basin Mountain, as seen from the base of the Sierra Nevada.

This is a vertical-format view of one of my favorite eastern Sierra mountains, Basin Mountain. It isn’t the tallest in the range or even on this section of the crest, and others have more storied reputations. But I’ve spent quite a bit of time in places where I could see it — both directly beneath its eastern face and passing by on the way to other locations. Although it isn’t very clear from this angle, that eastern face features a striking “basin” that opens toward Owens Valley. I’ve long been intrigued by an obvious trail ascending into that basin, though I’ve never gotten around to taking it.

I made the photograph from the base of the Sierra along the western edge of what we might broadly consider to be part of Owens Valley. (Technically, the exact spot has a different name, but close enough!) The view illustrates some typical features of the “East Side” mountains. They rise from desert-like terrain in many places, and even when it isn’t actually desert it is dry. The foothills rise through what I refer to as “sagebrush country,” often on material deposited by flowing water or old glaciers, and eventually meet the rugged base of the rocky Sierra itself. From there the terrain becomes much more alpine and often much steeper as it rises toward the highest peaks.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Autumn Trees, Levee Road

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Autumn Trees, Levee road
Trees with autumn leaves along a road winding along a levee in Central Valley wetlands.

Autumn Trees, Levee Road. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Trees with autumn leaves along a road winding along a levee in Central Valley wetlands.

It just occurred to me that this sequence of photographs roughly narrates the course of a typical day here at this time of year. The ideal day starts before sunrise in thick fog. Then the fog becomes lighter and takes on the colors of dawn if things work just right. Eventually the fog thins more and the light becomes brighter and more directional. Before too long the fog dissipates and I’m left with the winter atmospheric haze, which softens the landscape even as the colors intensify.

I was hours into photographing this location when I came to these trees. Although it was still cold, the sun was shining confidently through the midday haze. The atmosphere was still a bit soft, but the fall colors were stronger. I initially stopped to photograph a bird perched at the top of one of the trees, but soon the bird left and I went into landscape photography mode.

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: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Levee Road, Fog, and Tree

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Levee Road, Fog, and Tree
Autumn tule fog glows in morning sun, blankets a Central Valley levee road, and obscures an old tree.

Levee Road, Fog, and Tree. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn tule fog glows in morning sun, blankets a Central Valley levee road, and obscures an old tree.

The subject here is an old Central Valley tree along a levee road on a very foggy autumn morning. You may recall that my previous photograph of a fog-obscured tree from this location was in color — thought just barely, as I wrote about in that post. Color was similarly subtle (as in “nearly absent”) in this scene, too, so I went ahead and interpreted the scene in black and white.

The quiet and moody quality of this scene, of course, comes largely from the tule fog. But that is enhanced by the way it glows in the back light from the sun, seen just above and slightly to the left of the tree. The fog is very thick here, but not very deep, and even though visibility was probably little more than 100 feet, the sunlight was able to penetrate and light up the fog.

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.