Tag Archives: dance

Photographs: France, Photographs: People, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man

Image Leave a comment
Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man
A man rides past a wall covered with street art, Le Marais.

Je Suis Bleu: Bicycle Man. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A man rides past a wall covered with street art, Le Marais.

I have been writing a new installment for my “A Photograph Exposed” series, where I write in depth about one of my favorite photographs. The photograph in question, which I regard as one of my best, features a group of three women photographed in front of this street art-covered wall. As part of the writing process, I went back to view other files made at about the same time — for reasons that will make sense when I share the article. In doing so I found other photographs of this scene that I like. In fact, if the “three women” photograph had not turned out, I might well have shared this one years ago!

I am fascinated by the experience of going back to forgotten image files and “discovering” work for the first time. There is a difference in how we see photographs that we have just made (and which we associate with the immediate experience of making them) and how we see the same photographs after time has passed. I think that, in some ways, we see the images more objectively in the latter case — perhaps we can “see” them as what they are more than as what we expected them to be.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Pas de Deux

Image Leave a comment
Pas de Deux
A pair of sandhill cranes performing “the dance.”

Pas de Deux. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of sandhill cranes performing “the dance.”

Sandhill cranes have become perhaps my favorite bird subject. These large and ancient birds behave in ways that fascinate me more and more over time. (Their distinctive call is the first thing I listen for when I arrive at my favorite bird photography locations.) Geese that first drew me to photographing birds, but the more time I spent in the field the more the cranes attracted me. (Perhaps the earliest push in this direction came years ago, long before I had even seen a Sandhill crane, when I read about them in the writings of Aldo Leopold.)

It is a constant challenge to try to figure out their behavior and its logic. For example, even though I’ve spent a lot of time watching them around sunrise, when they generally fly out for the day, almost every lift-off comes as a surprise. I learned to be strategic about where I placed myself when photographing birds. After watching groups of cranes fly successively over a particular spot, I would move quietly to that location and wait… at which point they would all avoid that location, sometimes diverting the place I had just left! The “crane dance” seen here also seems to be a bit of a mystery — and not just to me. From what I read, while there is a courtship angle to the behavior, that may not be its only context.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

RK AVENUE BALLRO

Image Leave a comment
RK AVENUE BALLRO
The front entrance to an urban dance studio, San Jose.

RK AVENUE BALLRO. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The front entrance to an urban dance studio, San Jose.

If you have been following along here you probably can guess that this is another photograph from my (almost) daily long walks in the greater neighborhood, an activity that has become a ritual during the time since March 2020… for reasons that you can also probably guess. These walks range from the short (“Gotta at least put in a half hour!”) to nearly ten miles, virtually always through the urban wilderness of neighborhoods, industrial areas, shopping centers, and similar.

I always carry a camera, though on most walks it stays in the bag. But every so often something catches my attention and out comes the camera. Quite often the subject is something that I’ve passed by many times but only really notice for the first time on one of the walks — a common experience, by the way. The elements that make this building what it is comprise quite a collection — the heavy framing of the entry way, the rather striking and perhaps unusual color choices, and more… some of which lies outside the frame in this photograph.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

The Crane Dance, Morning

Image Leave a comment
The Crane Dance, Morning
Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

The Crane Dance, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two sandhill cranes perform the ritual “crane dance” as others look on.

For the most part, sandhill cranes pretty much… stand around a lot. They often seem to be doing nothing at all, though perhaps they are feeding. Groups will stand in one spot for long periods of time, or perhaps a few may decide to wander a short distance for some reason. (If their path takes them away from you, there is a good chance that you may be closer than you really should be.) They fly out in the morning, and big groups of them often return in the evening, in what I regard as the most dynamic time of day for them.

And then, every so often, they “dance.” A pair of them, or sometimes an individual or even more than two, perform this remarkable ritual. By some combination of hopping and wing flapping they rise abruptly into the air, typically getting no more than a couple of feet off the ground and then dropping back to the same spot. From what I read, this may be a part of their mating/courting ritual, though they do this at other times for what seems to be no discernible reason. Perhaps they just feel like dancing? (In this little scene, I’m intrigued by the interested voyeurs on the left!)

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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