Tag Archives: double

Double-Five

Double-Five
Stenciled numbers on a weathered wall next to a roll-up door.

Double-Five. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stenciled numbers on a weathered wall next to a roll-up door.

Weathered, decaying subjects and subjects with strong patterns attract me, and this one works on both counts. I photographed it a few years ago while wandering around in San Francisco and poking my camera into odd little corners and alleys. This is in a shoreline area that was once a location of true maritime industry, but which is today much like the rest of San Francisco — in other words a place for small offices, start-ups, restaurants and similar enterprises.

The stenciled numbers did catch my attention when I first saw this little scene. Initially I think that their weathered character may have been responsible. But more recently I have wondered about them. Do they still mean something or are they now remnants divorced from an earlier context? Is the message “5” or is it “55?” And what, if anything, is the relationship between the two different fonts used?


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 and Amazon.

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Big Creek Bridge

Big Creek Bridge
Mountains drop into the Pacific ocean at Big Creek Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

Big Creek Bridge. Big Sur Coast, California. January 24, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mountains drop into the Pacific ocean at Big Creek Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

Back in January, probably on a hunt for big winter Pacific surf, I headed down the Pacific Coast Highway through the Big Sur Coast, making it all the way to the southern end of this spectacular route. This is often a very rugged meeting of land and sea, and in places the tall coastal mountains drop directly into the ocean. In order to find a path through this landscape, the road sometimes hugs the waterline and sometimes ascends high into these mountains.

If I recall correctly, I initially stopped here to scope out a possible photograph of the golden hour, with the plan being to stop here again on the way north. (In fact, that is what happened, and I did get a few good photographs of the spot in evening light — before the sun dropped below an offshore fog bank and the light died!) The bridge spans (with double arches) the end of the valley where Big Creek meets the ocean. On this afternoon a big winter swell was coming in from the northwest and producing lines of big waves.


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

Red Bus, People on Bench

Red Bus, People on Bench
A group of people sit on a concrete bench as a red bus stops behind them.

Red Bus, People on Bench. London, England. July 8, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of people sit on a concrete bench as a red bus stops behind them.

I think there might be a bit more to this photograph than meets the eye — at least I like to think so. The scene is a concrete bench along the edge of Trafalgar Square late in the day, as the low angle sun hits the bench and its occupants straight on. I’ll leave it at that…


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email


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

Double Bass, Backstage

Double Bass, Backstage
Double Bass, Backstage

Double Bass, Backstage. San Jose, California. May 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A double bass rests back stage during a break in a rehearsal of Symphony Silicon Valley

This is a photograph from my ongoing project related to classical music performing groups and the musicians who belong to them. It falls into a category I have mentioned before, namely photographs of people and things that happen to turn up in the small areas of interesting backstage light that I have discovered. As I have worked several venues over the past two years I have gotten to know many things about them intimately, and one of those things is the location of the many little unexpected pools of interesting light. Sometimes I “stalk” those spots, just waiting for someone or something to happen there, and I always check them as I walk around the theater with my camera.

This is, obviously, a visually simple image—just a double bass lying on its side during a break in a rehearsal. (I was attracted by the contrast between the warm colors and interesting textures of the instrument and the “industrial” surroundings with their signs of heavy use and even minor damage.) From my point of view, however, it could lead to thoughts of a whole range of other things. I’m fascinated by what an instrument is and what it isn’t. Instruments, musical and otherwise, are often remarkable things in that they allow us to do things that we can’t otherwise do with our minds and bodies alone. The instruments of classical (and many other types of) music are fundamentally pretty simple things and often the result of some really “primitive” technologies, yet they are remarkably adapted to the purposes for which they are intended, generally as a result of a long and complex evolutionary process. But in the end, I would argue that even the most beautiful and sophisticated instrument is no more than a tool, and the really interesting things are how the tool is used by a person or persons to produce something far more meaningful and interesting than the instrument itself.

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.