Tag Archives: city

Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

September 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A ferry sails up the Neckar River past the Heidelberg altstadt, Germany

I grabbed this shot while walking across a bridge over the Neckar that crossed between the part of Heidelberg where we were staying and the Hauptstrasse area with all of its commotion and shops. In a case of very lucky timing, the boat emerged from beneath the bridge just as we happened to walk across. I think it is some sort of tourist cruise, judging by the activities that appeared to be taking place on board.

When I look at this photograph, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “postcard.” :-) The scene looks up the section of the river that passes by the old town section of Heidelberg, with its very narrow streets, shops and restaurants and the castle on the green hills above the town. The boat thoughtfully points right into the scene! We spent a total of a week or so here, in two segments separated by a week in Bavaria, and because of that and because we have relatives there with whom we stayed (thanks, Greg and Jan!) the town of Heidelberg began to feel like our home in Germany.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Antiquariat

August 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Doorway of a bookstore in Heidelberg, Germany

Once we got off the “main drag” (aka, the “hauptstrasse”) in Heidelberg, the streets became even narrower, the crowds diminished, the number of (mostly) young people riding bicycles increased, and there were more small shops that seemed quite unique. I think that this shop sells used or old books from the looks of it, but I’m afraid that I did not go inside to check – I don’t speak more than a few words of German, so a German bookstore was going to be more than a bit of a challenge!

Visually the store was still interesting, though. I’m fascinated by the interesting colors of paint on the walls and by the rather distressed quality of that paint on these old buildings, along with the odd and perhaps misaligned angles – you can see them clearly here if you take a close look at the door and its frame. There were a few small items sitting outside on the steps, but they hardly constituted a display that was guaranteed to grab the attention of passers-by. Inside you can see the inviting ambience of almost any old bookstore, with the warm glow of a lamp sitting on a desk or table.

Photographs: England

London Sunset

August 30, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Sunset over London, England

We had walked across to the south side of the Thames River earlier on this afternoon – I think it was the day that we visited the Tate Museum, which is located near the south end of the Millennium Bridge. We had been in this area earlier on the trip when we saw “A Midsummer Nights Dream” at the Old Globe Theater, and I had wanted to come back in the evening and try to time it so that I could be along the river during the golden hour and perhaps into the early evening. Sure enough, when we were ready to start out walk back across the bridge to where we would catch the Underground back to our hotel the light was just starting to get interesting. In this case, “interesting” included not only the normal golden hour light show but also the somewhat thick and humid atmosphere found here.

My main thoughts were to photograph the skyline to the north and south of the bridge, and to continue shooting as the evening lights began to come on. But when I saw this sun in the hazy sky I put on a long lens that did what I would do in the Sierra Nevada back home – I made a sunset photograph! However, the landscape in this image is distinctly British and distinctly London, with the most obvious feature being the BT Tower at the left.

Commentary, Reader Questions

About the Yosemite “Rim” fire… and more

August 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

UPDATE and a NOTE:

Update: Shortly after I posted this, my reports on highway 120 through the park via the Tuolumne Meadows area were rendered incorrect/outdated by way of an updated announcement from the park service as follows:

“Beginning at 12:00pm on Wednesday, August 28th, Tuolumne Meadows and the High Sierra will only be accessible via Highway 120 East through Lee Vining. The Tioga Rd/Hwy 120 East will be temporarily closed between White Wolf Lodge and the Big Oak Flat Rd./Hwy 120 West at Crane Flat; the closure is estimated to be 3 to 4 days. Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, the High Sierra Camps, and Tuolumne Meadows and Porcupine Flat campgrounds all remain open.”

Basically, this means that you will not be able to use highway 120 as a route across the Sierra until further notice. I’m not surprised – in fact, I’ve been somewhat surprised that the road remained open this long. Apparently the following URL is also a good source of updates from the park: http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-fire-update.aspx

Note: All of which brings me back to my original statement that I don’t have inside information on this fire, and that anyone traveling to the area needs to check official sources for conditions updates. I will likely not update this page as things change, so the information posted here should be regarded as potentially being out of date!

My original post follows…

—

A few people have asked me for information about the “Rim” fire which started not far from Groveland near highway 120, and which is currently burning along the northwest boundary of Yosemite National Park, generally moving east and north toward the highway 108 area. While I know much of this area fairly well from many years (decades, actually) of visits, I do not have any inside information about the fire itself, nor am I an expert on wildfires. One good source of (limited but objective) information is the Stanislaus National Forest Rim Fire Incident web page. A map on this page is a quite amazing source of information, especially when combined with some familiarity with the area and a reading of various written reports. (The version on the main page seems to be based on Google Maps, and allows you to scroll around and zoom in.) Lots of folks who live and work in the area are sharing updates on the usual social media sites. The Mariposa Gazette is another local news source.

The fire started on August 17 more or less midway between Groveland and the northwest park entrance and not far off of the highway 120 corridor near the Rim of the World area overlooking the canyon of the Tuolumne River. (Highway 120 is a common route for entry to the park from the west and northwest, and it connects via Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass to the east side of the Sierra at the town of Lee Vining.) The spread of the fire at first was somewhat quick, which is no surprise given the extremely dry conditions in the Sierra following a second very dry winter and almost no real precipitation since late 2012. Then, between about August 20 and 23, the fire exploded, expanding very quickly to cover a huge area generally to the east and north of the starting point, with the fire generally racing northeast but also spreading to the north and south. Continue reading About the Yosemite “Rim” fire… and more →

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: city

Boat on the Neckar, Heidelberg

Antiquariat

London Sunset

About the Yosemite “Rim” fire… and more

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