Tag Archives: cathedral

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dana Fork, Evening

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Dana Fork, Evening
The Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River curves through subalpine meadows in evening light

Dana Fork, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. July 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River curves through subalpine meadows in evening light

Mid-July, at least in a relatively dry year, as was the summer of 2016, can be the time of the most natural loveliness in the High Sierra. Most snow has melted, the creeks and rivers are flowing, the vegetation is green, the days are long, wildflowers are appearing, and the light is beautiful. If it weren’t for mosquitos, the world would be perfect. (This year July will likely look quite different, and I suspect that there will still be patches of snow on the ground and that the water will be much higher.)

Last July I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows area, a place that is comfortable and familiar to me by now. This time I car-camped, staying in the busy Tuolumne Meadows campground, but heading out early and late in the day to find photographic subjects nearby and as far away as Mono Lake. On this evening I found myself along Tioga Pass road late in the day as sunset approached, so I stopped and wandered out into this intimate landscape of the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne, rock-filled meadows, and forest, with the point of Cathedral Peak silhouetted against the sky in the distance.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bubble Man

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Bubble Man
A man making soap bubbles for the crowd in London

Bubble Man. London, England. August 2, 2016. © Copyright 2016. G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man making soap bubbles for the crowd in London

We were out on foot on the first day of this trip to London and, if I recall correctly, we must have traveled across the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to the Tate Modern in the gray drizzle. We had no specific plans on this day, and I think we were just sort of getting our “London legs” by getting out and about, no matter where our whims took us. (That said, one place that the walk took us was a pub, for breakfast!)

Coming back across the bridge the view points straight toward the St. Paul’s Cathedral, and once over the bridge the walkway travels between some modern buildings as it approaches. This is, obviously, prime tourist territory, so it is a likely place for street vendors and performers. (It is also a fine place for street photographers.) The black-dressed fellow was spreading a mess of soapy water on the sidewalk tiles and lots of big bubbles into the air.

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

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Urban/Street

Cafe, Tourists, and Duomo

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Cafe, Tourists, and Duomo
Morning visitors walk past an outdoor cafe and the Duomo, Florence

Cafe, Tourists, and Duomo. Florence/Firenze, Italy. August 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning visitors walk past an outdoor cafe and the Duomo, Florence

At the risk of repeating something I’ve previously shared, when I travel I often almost make it a point to not know too much precise detail about where I’m going, especially if the place is new. (I won’t go so far as wanting to know nothing, since that could make things very complicated!) The idea is that this lets me discover the place when I get there, thus giving me a sort of personal map of the location and my own orientation to it. This also means that I can have the joy of actual discovery while I’m on location, as differentiated by the recognition that, yeah, I know about this place.

I almost hesitate to admit how naive I was about Florence. I knew some odd background facts — for example, the importance of the Florentine camera — in classical music. But beyond that I know pretty much that a) it is in Italy and b) driving there isn’t supposed to be fun. My first major moment of “discovery” was walking around a corner to see the Duomo at night — I think that the experience was more awesome (in the true sense of “evoking awe”) than it would have been if I had read about the place. I made this photograph on our last morning in Florence, as we made a final visit to the area around the Duomo before heading to the airport to begin our long journey home.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sierra Meadow, Evening Light

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Sierra Meadow, Evening Light
The Cathedral Range and the Dana Fork fork of the Tuolumne River

Sierra Meadow, Evening Light. Yosemite National Park, California. July 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Cathedral Range and the Dana Fork fork of the Tuolumne River

One of the great pleasures of the Sierra — and other places, for that matter — is “aimless wandering,” just heading out into a landscape with no specific goal in mind, but simply to move slowly and quietly and find what there is to see. This was an evening for such things, so I went to a familiar place a few hours before the end of the day and just walked off slowly into the landscape, meandering along the boundary between meadow and forest, stopping frequently to observe. Truth be told, I probably spent more time standing still than walking.

Perhaps 45 minutes before sunset I realized that some unusual “sky action” was about to take place above my location, and my meandering took on a clearer since of direction. I began to work my way back toward my starting point, a location from which I envisioned photographs of the sky and foreground landscape. But even this more purposeful walking was slow, and along the way I stopped to photograph this bend in the river, with a distant granite ridge above the meadow and forest.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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