Tag Archives: circle

Photographs: Alaska

At the Arctic Circle

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At the Artic Circle
At the Arctic Circle, Alaska, 2002.

At the Arctic Circle. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

At the Arctic Circle, Alaska, 2002.

There is a story behind this enigmatic photograph. About 20 years ago (and I may not have the exactly right date above), three of us rode our bicycles about 1100 mile through a good section of Alaska as part of a group connected to our kids’ high school and middle school. The middle school science teacher (Hi, Mr. Hodges!) had run a hiking/biking club for many years, and every year the group mounted an expedition to some fascinating and historical place in the west. For the final trip before he retired, he outdid himself and organized this 1100 mile bicycle tour from Skagway, over White Pass, through part of BC and The Yukon, up to Fairbanks, and finally to Anchorage. It was the trip of a lifetime for many of these kids.

We did a short non-cycling layover in Fairbanks and took advantage of this to hire a school bus (!) to drive the group to the Arctic Circle. This is a bit of an odd trip — especially in a school bus — across miles and hours of gravel road through wilderness to arrive at… a wide spot in the road with a sign marking the approximate location of the Arctic Circle. It is some strange combination of astounding (nothing but incomprehensible wilderness between you and the Arctic Sea) and the banal — a road sign and this bit of a red rug with a dotted line that someone had thoughtfully placed to mark “the line.”

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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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

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Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall
Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall. San Francisco, California. March 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man with a cell phone walks along a San Francisco sidewalk past maroon wall.

For the first time, I went out and did street photography with my two sons in San Francisco during the first weekend in March. It was fun, though I’m not used to shooting street (or much else) with other people, and I think my work habits may have a tendency to drive others slightly crazy. (Sons, thanks for putting up with me! :-) When I shoot street and urban subjects I tend to wander about rather slowly, looking at everything, getting distracted while I stop to shoot something, and then heading off in an unpredictable direction when something else catches my attention!

We took BART to the downtown area of the City and wandered up toward Union Square along with the rest of the horde, finally heading out into some less traveled streets where there weren’t quite so many people. We photographed various back streets and then descended through the fringes of the Tenderloin to end up at the Civic Center.

One irony is that while I am fully digital these days – though I did go with the traditional approach and shoot with only a 50mm prime – both of my sons prefer to shoot film now! There is no explaining some things! :-)

When I shoot street I tend to approach it somewhat as a landscape photographer, first looking for interesting light, patterns, colors, and so forth. At that point I often square up a composition and then look for the right person or people to walk through the scene, and I try to time the exposure to put the figure in an interesting place in the composition. In this case I think it got quite lucky with the colors of the fellow’s clothing against the maroon wall!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/100 second

keywords: man, person, walking, cell, phone, talking, maroon, yellow, tan, arch, circle, patterns, window, reflection, fire, alarm, parking, meter, sidewalk, manhole, cover, design, gate, door, vent, address, hill, slope, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, downtown, city, stock

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Zeum Plaza Circle

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Zeum Plaza Circle

Zeum Plaza Circle. San Francisco, California. May 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning photograph of the circular area of the Zeum plaza with a small group of people.

I frequently photograph in downtown San Francisco while on foot, walking various urban streets and ending up wherever my eyes lead me. On this day I had gone to the City on the train and first wandered along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay, very familiar photographic territory for me. I headed up Market into the downtown area and then began to loop back toward the Caltrain station, stopping in the Moscone Center area along the way. I crossed the pedestrian bridge and ended up on the walkways and plaza surrounding the “Zeum,” and finding interesting light and almost not people stayed a while to photograph the place before continuing on to my train.

Zeum Circle Plaza. San Francisco, California. May 2. 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.