Tag Archives: california

Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Looking In

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Looking In
“Looking In” — Looking into an old mansion through a screen left ajar.

We were at this location to photograph flowers, but I almost always keep an eye out for other subjects besides the one I came for. This large public garden is centered around a historic mansion, and at times I found the old building to be as interesting as the flowers that were my object. I noticed that the outer screen didn’t quite close all the way, and then I noticed that a warm lamp was barely visible inside the building. Looking in at the warmly lit interior scene, as vague as it is, evokes memories of such places in the winter.

This is one of those photographs that —once again! — proves the point that we often do not expose for some compromise, straight-out-of-camera shot. instead, I like to think about what exposure will give me the image data that I can use to in post to produce an image that is true to what I saw. Here I had to control the brightness of the exterior — which was fortunately muted a bit as the sun passed behind some clouds —while getting enough of an image in the dark and subtle interior that I could work with it in post.

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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

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Gullies, Hills, and Mountains

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Gullies, Hills, and Mountains
A line of badlands terrain full of gullies with desert mountains in the distance.

Gullies, Hills, and Mountains. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A line of badlands terrain full of gullies with desert mountains in the distance.

This photograph embodies many elements that attract me to Death Valley National Park. I’m always impressed by the clarity (and seeming irony) with which the place reveals the effect of water on the landscape. Essentially everything in this scene is the result of water, from the gullies on the soft foreground formations, to the gigantic, gravel-filled wash beyond, and the the eroded mountains in the distance. That distance is another important feature — I’ve only encountered the immense scale of this landscape in a few other places.

It was still morning when I made this photograph, though golden hour had passed. We had photographed more intimate aspects of the landscape in the earlier light, and now we were moving on when we paused at this high point to take in this gigantic scene. Beyond the foreground hills, the flat wash stretches for miles to the base of haze-obscured desert mountains.

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

Photographs: Nature

Tulips

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Tulips
Close-up photography of a tulip blossom, tulip buds, and plants.

Tulips. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Close-up photograph of a tulip blossom, tulip buds, and plants.

It seems that I have begun a little series of black and white flower photographs, so I’m going to run with it. Here’s another, this time featuring tulips — a background of tulip leaves and stems, a pair of buds at different stages of development, and one central flower that is just about to open.

Of course, the colors of spring flowers are the main story, and I’ve made plenty of color photographs of the subject. In fact, if you look back a bit in my post stream you may find a somewhat different take on this group of flowers done that way. But a monochromatic rendition gives me greater creative flexibility in many ways, and I think it also may let me focus on the forms of the flowers a bit more without the “distraction” of the appealing colors.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Layers and Folds

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Layers and Folds
The complex geology of badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

Layers and Folds. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The complex geology of badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

The landscape of Death Valley National Park is extremely varied. The popular imagination first focuses on scenes of sand dunes, the classic signifier of “desert.” But the place is full of canyons, stream beds, surprising instances of water, mountain peaks, and even forests of several types. All of these are special, but scenes like this one may embody one of the the most common elements of this landscape, the exposure of its underlying geology.

The area of this photograph is incredibly complex. It is a maze of small, eroded formations and canyons, all of them interconnected. Underlying this are uplifted layers of material in colors ranging from nearly black to nearly white, interspersed with surprising bits of red, blue, and green. I photographed here early in the morning because the light was softer and richer and because the low angle of the sun entering the scene from the side delineated the eroded features.

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 | 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.