Tag Archives: church

Arches and Columns

Arches and Columns
Arches and columns in the Mosque-Cathedral, Cordoba.

Arches and Columns. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Arches and columns in the Mosque-Cathedral, Cordoba.

Yes, I am most emphatically not in the Sierra Nevada of California this summer! House-sitters engaged, tickets purchased, reservations made… and we are now three weeks into a grand adventure. (It is also a rather hot adventure, but I’ll save that story for later.) I will not post photographs all the time as we travel, as I’d rather spend the time doing the traveling than post-processing photographs. But from time to time I’ll share a few that I think might interest readers.

We just spent a few days in Cordoba, Spain, where our main goal was to visit the Mosque-Cathedral. I cannot begin to describe the site in a way that does it justice, but it is among the most remarkable places I have ever visited. The deep history it contains, and the blending of influences from Islam and Catholicism, are deeply thought-provoking. It is filled with too many beauties and connections to fully understand it in a short visit — but don’t miss the opportunity if you ever have the chance to go.


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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Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis
Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Paroisse Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, Le Marais, Paris.

This church figured briefly in the text accompanying a recently-posted photograph of a historic Paris fire alarm station. The story is that I wasn’t sure what building this is. It caught my attention, for obvious reasons, while walking in Le Marais, so I made a photograph — but I neglected to note the precise location or even the identity of the place. (I often prefer to not do too much research about a location in order to retain some of the fun of “discovering” it.) I finally figured it out by spotting its reflection in the fire alarm photo!

The remarkable church was constructed in the 1600s, which explains the detailed architecture. Today the colors of certain features are quite striking — those red doors and the sun design around the clock, for example.


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

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Vault, Salzburg Cathedral

Vault, Salzburg Cathedral
The view looking straight upwards at the vault of the Salzburg Cathedral.

Vault, Salzburg Cathedral. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view looking straight upwards at the vault of the Salzburg Cathedral.

As an American — a citizen of a relatively young country — I still am amazed by what you can just sort of wander into in Europe, sometimes without even intending to go to such places. (I have stories, and they range from hilarious to marvelous.) In a way, our visit to the Salzburg Cathedral was a bit like this. We were staying in Bavaria with family for a week, and we arrived and departed by trains in Salzburg. And since we were just over the border, it was a short drive back there to spend some time wandering around.

And wander is more or less how we ended up in this cathedral. We parked and started walking toward the central area of the old city and passed by this Cathedral and, of course, walked in. (Speaking of casual amazements — you can still see where Mozart was baptized in this church.) The photograph looks straight up at the remarkable ceiling of this 400-hundred-year-old church.


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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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.

Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg

Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg
Interior of the Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg, Germany.

Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interior of the Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg, Germany.

Continuing my pandemic “virtual travels” via my old raw file archives, I’m now out of London and in Heidelberg, Germany. This town is a sort of home base for us when we travel to Europe, mainly because we have relatives who live there. We love visiting (and traveling beyond Heidelberg with) them, and on longer travels we have used Heidelberg as a place to decompress for a few days. In other words, we’re fond of the place! This photograph is the interior of the Heiliggeistkirche in the altstadt section of the town.

This photograph illustrates something I learned years ago when photographing another subject that also makes impressive use of soaring, vertical space — the redwood forests of California. My early instinct with those forests was to almost always shoot in vertical “portrait” mode to try to get everything in frame. Eventually I learned that the implication of absent height can speak as loudly as its inclusion, and I began to photograph the trees in horizontal “landscape” orientation, and sometimes even very wide panoramic views. I think that the same principle is at work here, and the fact that the vertical structures extend beyond the frame may invite the viewer to consider just how tall the space is.


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.