Tag Archives: california

Hope Valley, Autumn — Five Photographs

This set of five photographs features scenes of autumn in Hope Valley in the California Sierra Nevada.

Wall of Color, Hope Valley
Wall of Color, Hope Valley

Wall of Color, Hope Valley. October 8, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A colorful grove of autumn aspen trees, backed by pine forest, Hope Valley, California

A “wall of trees” photograph made in the evening at Hope Valley, California near the peak of the 2014 aspen color season.

Meadow and Forest, Picketts Junction
Meadow and Forest, Picketts Junction

Meadow and Forest, Picketts Junction. October 9, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Forest and meadows with fall color, Picketts Junction, Hope Valley

Fall meadow colors along the creek in Hope Valley, California near Picketts Junction were highway 88 and 89 meet.

Aspen Color, Hope Valley
Aspen Color, Hope Valley

Aspen Color, Hope Valley. October 9, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen color and pine forest, Hope Valley, California

Brilliant autumn aspen foliage in shades of yellow and orange in the upper portion of Hope Valley, just east of Carson Pass in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

Autumn Forest, Hope Valley
Autumn Forest, Hope Valley

Autumn Forest, Hope Valley. October 9, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn forest including willow and aspen stretches up Hope Valley toward Carson Pass

A giant pine forest, intermixed with the autumn colors of aspen trees, extends across Sierra Nevada slopes toward Carson Pass.

Aspen Color, Evening
Aspen Color, Evening

Aspen Color, Evening. October 8, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A colorful grove of autumn aspen trees, backed by pine forest, Hope Valley, California

Photographed in evening light, the curving shape of a grove of autumn aspen trees with colors of green, yellow, and orange.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Classical Musicians — Four Photographs

This post includes a set of four black and white photographs from my ongoing project photographing classical musicians.

Backstage Before the Concert
Backstage Before the Concert

Backstage Before the Concert. Symphony Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. September 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Musicians backstage preparing for the concert.

Musicians Backstage Before the Concert
Musicians Backstage Before the Concert

Musicians Backstage Before the Concert. Symphony Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. September 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Musicians backstage at the California Theater, preparing for a Symphony Silicon Valley concert

Checking the Score
Checking the Score

Checking the Score. Symphony Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. September 27, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Timpanist Robert Erlebach and conductor Karen Kamensek consult the score during a break in a Symphony Silicon Valley rehearsal

Consulting at the Break
Consulting at the Break

Consulting at the Break. Symphony Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. September 26, 2-14. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Conductor Karen Kamensek and violinist Allison “Gigi” Dang consult the conductor’s score during a rehearsal break


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Holding an Artifact

Holding an Artifact
Holding an Artifact

Holding an Artifact. Wildcat Hill, California. September 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Holding a Brett Weston negative — “Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1946”

During our visit to the Weston Home at Wildcat Hill in late September, Kim Weston shared a wide range of photographs and photographic objects , and accompanying stories, with us in his studio. (That’s him at the lower right of the frame.) He shared and talked about work by many of the Westons, from Edward Weston to himself. He even passed around various photographs and objects for closer inspection, including this negative of a very important Brett Weston photograph, “Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1946.”

And — no surprise! — he has a lot of stories to tell. If I have this one correct, it goes sort of this way. Brett Weston’s photographs are very much about the print and the initial image in the negative served as source material for the final interpretation. That interpretation was the thing — not the negative. As I understand it, he wanted the prints, not the negatives, to remain as his legacy, and he had announced that we was going to destroy the negatives for many great photographs. He discussed this with Edward (?) Weston, who did not feel the same way about limiting editions and who apparently convinced Brett to let him pick a few negatives to save. Brett agreed, Edward chose, Brett went and brought back the selected negatives… which he had defaced with a hole punch. (You can see the holes near the four corners of this negative.)


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Too Many Aspens!

Yesterday I realized that I had sort of forgotten a huge batch of aspen photographs from this fall in the eastern Sierra Nevada. How can one “forget” a big batch of such photographs, you ask? I simply became busy working on several other projects and after I moved on to them I stopped thinking about the earlier work.

I have so many of them — with more to come! — that I’m not going to string them out and post one at a time. Instead, here is one big batch of them all in one post. To save typing, all are from the eastern Sierra Nevada in October 2014

Aspen Grove, June Lake Loop
Aspen Grove, June Lake Loop

Grove, June Lake Loop. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn Aspen Forest
Autumn Aspen Forest

Autumn Aspen Forest. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen Groves, Country Road
Aspen Groves, Country Road

Aspen Groves, Country Road. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

(more below…)

Continue reading Too Many Aspens!