Tag Archives: carmel

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Forest, Ridge, and Haze

Leave a comment
Forest, Ridge, and Haze
Forest, Ridge, and Haze

Forest, Ridge, and Haze. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. October 10, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning haze mutes the details of forested coastal ridges along the California coast

Yes, yet another of the December black and white photographs — inspired by all of the black and white “challenge” posting going on right now. This photograph comes from 2010 when I made one of my frequent visits to the Point Lobos area along the California coast south of Monterey, an area that I have visited for decades. The typical focus of those visits is the shoreline itself, which is very spectacular here and which produces a wide range of moods throughout the year.

The photograph was made at Point Lobos, but much of what you see is not actually in this state park. The foreground forest is, but the high coastal hills rising beyond are outside the park. As beautiful as the ocean is, there is a lot to see if you turn your eyes in the opposite direction, too! On this morning there was high, thin cloudiness along with a great deal of backlit atmospheric haze — perhaps my favorite conditions for photographing scenes like this one! The haze glows in the backlight, and it mutes the smaller “busy” features of the landscape, allowing the larger forms to be seen more clearly… and perhaps evoking a sense of mystery.

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 | Facebook | Google+ | 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.

Photographs: Structures and Objects

La Sirena

Leave a comment
La Sirena
La Sirena

La Sirena. Carmel Highlands, California. September 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

I had a chance to visit a historic location in the Carmel Highlands on this late-September Sunday afternoon. We were there for several reasons: to see the place, to meet the people who live there, to look at some beautiful photographs. Since the main reasons for the visit was not to make photographs, I didn’t make too many — but I can’t stop myself from making at least a few!

The place is filled with all sorts of knick-knacks of the sort that accumulate when one family occupies a place for a long time. Among things of great and obvious value there were also silly and whimsical things, including the juxtaposition of figures attached to this exterior redwood wall.

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 | Facebook | Google+ | 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.

Commentary

Holding an Artifact

Leave a comment
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 | Facebook | Google+ | 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.

Photographs: Photographers

Edward Weston Darkroom

2 Comments
Edward Weston Darkroom
Edward Weston Darkroom

Edward Weston Darkroom. Carmel Highlands, California. September 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

In late September I had the opportunity to join a group of photographers visiting the Wildcat Hill Weston home in the Carmel Highlands area of the California Coast. The Weston family, members of which still live and work here, trace their family history at this place back to the great photographer, Edward Weston. The main house is maintained in much the state it would have been in quite a while ago, and there are wonderful archival objects — photographs, art, objects, this darkroom, etc — everywhere. This small darkroom, designed for contact printing, is a small space off the main room of the building. Not only does it have fascinating historical interest for photographers, but it is also remarkable to see the modest and personal space in which so much Weston photography was realized.

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 | Facebook | Google+ | 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.