Tag Archives: california

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pipes, Window, Stucco Wall, and Shadows

August 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late winter shadows fall across a suburban scene composed of a stucco wall, pipes, and a window

This is the second of two “walking around” photographs made in my neighborhood while wandering around with a camera and a couple of lenses. These walks are exercises in seeing, in several ways: When I carry the camera I pay a lot more attention to things around me that I would otherwise simply not see at all, and the process of looking and seeing photographs in places that are so mundane that I might regularly walk past them helps “tune up” my seeing skills.

As I often do, on this walk I was paying a lot of attention to shadows falling across the walls of buildings. As I write in my last photo post, once I started noticing the shadows, which are everywhere in this area, I began to see the buildings differently. For example, here is a building that I might otherwise have simply thought of as a tan building. But now it is a building with branches “painted” over almost its entire surface. And in this one, the branch shadows converge on the mundane little collection of faucets and wires and what-not at the lower left, then spread and open up to surround the white window frame above and to the right.

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.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sidewalk and Driveway, Person Walking

August 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

A person walks along a San Francisco sidewalk at the edge of a concrete driveway

A made this photograph on the final weekend before the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) closed for a lengthy period of remodeling and expansion – this was the last weekend to visit until about two years from now! The closing weekend had sneaked up on me. I thought I had a lot of time left to see the Garry Winogrand exhibit, but when I realized that it would close in mere days I had to get up there. I had a chance to see that show (probably worthy of a post or two on its own), along with an extensive exhibit of work by architect Lebbeus Woods and another exhibit of a bunch of major photographers.

I also had a chance to do a bit of photography in the museum, something that I enjoy from time to time. I don’t shoot a lot in these places, but I keep my eyes open for unusual views, people, light and so forth. As I walked through a high hallway with windows overlooking a section of downtown San Francisco, I looked down and saw this landscape of concrete – the curves and lines and textures reminded me a bit of the Lebbeus Woods work that I had just seen. Shooting through the windows – which impart a slight odd tint to the subject below – I waited for people to walk through the scene, individually or in groups.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Point Reyes Forest

August 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light in a pine forest at Point Reyes National Seashore

As I have visited Point Reyes over a period of years, I have often returned to the same familiar places – the “Point” and the lighthouse area, Limantour Beach, the area where the tule elk congregate, and a few other spots. These are areas of obvious photographic interest, but eventually I want to get to know a place better and to find other subjects. This year I’ve done a bit more of that – hiking some trails around Drakes Bay and Limantour for example, and trying to see the beauty in the pasture lands leading out toward the Point.

On many of the earlier visits I had passed by the turn off to Mount Vision Road without stopping, as I was often intent on getting to some other specific spot. Earlier this year, on a momentary whim, I finally turned left and headed up this route, not having much of any idea of what I would find. At first the road winds steeply up forested slopes, eventually emerging into more open country that affords views out toward Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean. (I have some ideas for photographs from up here, but so far the atmospheric conditions haven’t quite cooperated.) On the last visit, I looked a bit more closely at the dense forest growing along this road, and I stopped at one point to photograph this thick area of backlit trees.

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

Fisherman, Ellery Lake, Sierra Crest

August 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A lone fisherman casts into Ellery Lake beneath ridges rising through haze toward the Sierra Nevada crest

This photograph includes a subject that I’ve stopped and looked at many time, thinking there must be a photograph in it somewhere – and even trying to photograph it a few times – but never quite figuring out how to see it. Ironically, it was the wildfire haze and smoke that made it work for me this time, as that haze muted some of the over-abundance of fine detail that I think can distract from the larger form in this scene, and which also muted the bright reflections on the water which can otherwise be hard to manage.

I thought of this as monochrome image when I made it. (I don’t always know that at the time of exposure, but with digital we have the luxury of making that decision later if necessary.) My first thought was to make it a “natural” landscape, but I noticed that a fisherman had appeared along the left end of the foreground peninsula. Often my first reaction to the appearance of a person in my landscapes is to wait for the person to move. But I have learned that sometimes a very small figure in the landscape can change the image in ways that seem oddly out of proportion to the size of the figure. Here, especially in a larger print, the little figure against the background of the shining water changes everything, I think. Place the tip of your finger over that person to cover him, and see if you see what I mean. I did also continue to make a few more exposures after he left, but I like this one the best.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: california

Pipes, Window, Stucco Wall, and Shadows

Sidewalk and Driveway, Person Walking

Point Reyes Forest

Fisherman, Ellery Lake, Sierra Crest

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.