Tag Archives: early

Photographs: Croatia, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trogir Street, Early Morning

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Trogir Street, Early Morning
Trogir Street, Early Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell

Trogir Street, Early Morning. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A (nearly-) empty early-morning street in Trogir, Croatia.

Trogir, Croatia is located not far from the city of Split. (It is not too far from the Split airport, as any visitor will note after watching and listening to planes on approach over the town.) It is a very old town and quite a striking place, with buildings and narrow streets constructed from local stone. Its history goes back over 2000 years, and these days it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a well-known location from the Game of Thrones franchise and, not doubt partly as a result, a very popular place with tourists. The latter can be an issue, especially in such a small town, and during the daytime it can be really crowded.

My friend and Croatian fellow photographer Franka Mlikota Gabler was visiting while we were there, and she suggested meeting before sunrise for some early morning — and crowd-free! — photography. Aside from people setting up restaurants and shops or making deliveries, or tourists heading out to catch early flights from the Split airport, the place was almost deserted. I photographed this narrow street while it was early enough that the blue hour light still suffused the narrow passageways.

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: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman, Empty Venice Street

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Woman, Empty Venice Street
“Woman, Empty Venice Street” — A woman walks along a narrow and deserted Venice street in the early morning.

The whole concept of “travel” is complex and, I think, fraught with trade-offs and contradictions. The world is a huge place, far too big to fully experience and see all of it in a lifetime. Do we go to many places and experience each of them less fully? Or do we got to fewer places and try for a deeper experience with those? I don’t have the answer — just the question. Our visit to Venice on this trip relates to that question as, even though we had been to Italy before, we had not ever been to this remarkable — and now tourist-filled and other wise endangered — city. Part of us did not want to go there, given the issues with modern Venice, but another part of us thought, “Venice! How could you NOT go there at least once!” So we went.

The place is just as crowded as you have heard and possibly seen for yourself. But it is also just as remarkable as you have heard. Arriving there for the first time (a story I’ll share in more detail later) was one of the most remarkable moments of our trip. But those crowds! Fortunately, we stayed in a place that was outside the main tourist zone — yet close enough to get to places we wanted to visit quickly. On this morning I went out early, when almost no other tourists were out. It was possible to photograph empty streets or, as in this case, individuals passing through this remarkable place.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sunrise Dunes, Desert Mountains

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Sunrise Dunes, Desert Mountains
Sunrise light highlights sand dunes against a backdrop of desert mountains.

Sunrise Dunes, Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Sunrise light highlights sand dunes against a backdrop of desert mountains.

Some of my recent Death Valley dunes photographs have featured a wild wind and sand storm — a very dramatic scene that was not easy to photograph. Here I switch to the opposite mood in the dunes, the quiet moment when the first sunrise light arrives. The light changes with incredible speed at this time of day, going from the soft blue tones of pre-sunrise to bright and harsh daytime colors in moments. I made this photograph during the first direct light, when distant mountains were still in shadows.

It is hard to convey the experience of the dunes at this moment. The landscape is immense and silent. Sometimes it feels like there is a dissonance between the profound quiet and stillness and the rapidity of the visual changes. We continued to photograph a bit longer, then the magical early light was gone.

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

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

Geese, Morning Clouds

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Geese, Morning Clouds
Early morning clouds and migratory geese above California’s Central Valley.

Geese, Morning Clouds. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Early morning clouds and migratory geese above California’s Central Valley.

The range of sky colors and the nature of their transitions never cease to amaze me. The previous photograph that I shared featured an intense, blood-red, pre-sunrise sky that is almost too saturated to be believable. This photograph comes from the same morning, only minutes later, and with the camera pointed in a different direction. Some of the reddish tones are still present here, but they are far more muted and balanced by the blue (and resultant purple) shades. Conveniently, a long line of geese flew across the scene at just the right moment.

This morning’s light continued to transition after I made this photograph. As I recall, when we arrived before sunrise and saw the wildly colorful sky, we quickly texted friends in the area to alert them. A few minutes later, at about the time I made this photograph, I started to feel badly that they were not going to see that earlier light. And by the time that the last of them got there… it had turned into a rather gray morning, under the influence of haze and incoming clouds.

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.

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