Tag Archives: Cloud

Lamp, Cloud, Stone Walls

August 24, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Midday light along the narrow road through Castello di Ama, Italy

While visiting a vineyard/winery here I learned some things I would not have expected about this part of Italy. I’m used to California’s wine country, especially the areas in northern California where a lot of the vineyards seem to be either on hillsides of quite often in flat river valleys. Here, at least among the vineyards around the area where I made this photograph, the vineyards are on relatively steep hillsides and, as I discovered, on soil that is more rock than dirt. There was a place where the path was well below the level of the soil surface and a section of the rock wall had been removed to show the earth down perhaps 6-8 feet deep… and it was almost entirely rock.

Speaking of these paths, I made this photograph along an old, narrow, winding “road” between the buildings of a now-isolated village. It was midday, when the light becomes much brighter and sharper, though still with that bit of softness that seems to be the norm here. The high sun angle and bright light cast a strong shadow across the wall at the left and part of the part, while a few scattered clouds floated by overhead.

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 Wave, Mounts Dana and Gibbs

July 19, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening Sierra wave clouds build above Mounts Dana and Gibbs along the Sierra crest.

This is how the show began, though I had my suspicions much earlier in the afternoon. When conditions are right, a “Sierra wave” cloud formation can form along and just to the east of the Sierra Nevada crest. It can be a long, undulating cloud formation, sometimes with many stacked layers — think of lenticular clouds that are many tens of miles long. The clouds simply sit above the crest, unmoving (though subtly transitioning in form) for hours. They are very impressive in broad daylight, but in the evening when conditions are right they are lit by the last sun coming from far west of the range, and the colors can be quite nearly unbelievable.

I first saw some interesting potential clouds shortly after noon, and I began to keep an eye on them. As evening approached I thought that perhaps they might dissipate or dissolve enough that the shape would not be compelling, though some sunset color was certainly a possibility. I set out to photograph something else entirely, slowly wandering up to the far end of a subalpine meadow by myself and photographing for perhaps an hour and a half. At this point the clouds looked like they were starting to hold greater potential for something quite special, so with about 45 minutes remaining before sunset I began to head back to the western edge of the meadow, from which this view included the clouds, the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne Meadow, and the summits of Mounts Dana and Gibbs. If you are wondering if the color finally developed… stay tuned!

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dust Storm, Dunes, Evening Light

June 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dust storm rages above sand dunes at the end of the day, Death Valley National Park

This was a wild evening, featuring an apocalyptic combination of tremendously strong winds, huge clouds of blowing sand and dust, periodic downpours of rain, and light that changed constantly from ominous and dark to luminous clouds backlit by sun to threads of virgo, and more. I had never seen quite this combination of conditions in Death Valley at one time.

Photography was quite challenging. Because sunset was approaching (and I continued to photograph into the dusk), it was often quite dark. The screaming winds made it virtually impossible to shoot from the tripod, so I was mostly reduced to bracing my camera against the window frame of my vehicle and working with the camera handheld. In the rough conditions I was forced to work from a distance with a long lens, since photographing inside the windblown clouds of dust and sand was not a good idea. Here the clouds and the dust above the sand dunes momentarily thinned, creating a backlit glow from the low angle sun about to drop behind mountains to the west.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

SFMOMA, Cloud

June 16, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cloud above the new SFMOMA building

I think my landscape photographer instincts went to work on this photograph, despite its thoroughly urban subject. But imagine a valley floor, a vertical granite cliff, peaks beyond, and a cloud floating past and I think you might see the analogy. But this is a distinctly San Francisco street/architecture photograph.

I was on foot in The City, spending the better part of a day wandering around in an area bounded by the Embarcadero and the Bay, Market street more or less, and Fourth Street. I was headed south on a less crowded street, traveling more or less toward the newly remodeled SFMOMA (museum of modern art). I had been looking a the tall building on the right and the bit of the new portion of the museum poking out to its left when the solitary cloud appeared from behind the building and began to move from right to left. Having very little time to contemplate, I framed up this vertical composition and made the photograph “street” style, using the prime lens already on the camera and simply shooting handheld

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