Tag Archives: entrance

Hostel 36

Hostel 36
Window and entrance to Hostel 36, Heidelberg

Hostel 36. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Window and entrance to Hostel 36, Heidelberg

By now we have visited Heidelberg several times, spending a total of perhaps a couple of weeks there. We have relatives (Patty’s brother and sister-in-law) who live there, so we almost always include a visit when we are in that part of the world. By now we’ve wandered a bit around the city, especially the Altstadt area and its surroundings, but also on the other side of the hill that runs along the opposite of the Neckar.

The Altstadt is, of course, a bit of a tourist destination. It is an older area of the city, many of the streets are narrow enough that there is little or no vehicle traffic, it is filled with restaurants, hotels, and other things that attract visitors, with historic churches, a university, and a large castle in the hills above. I recall that the first visit took us right up one of those streets filled with shops and restaurants. We still go there, but we also wander away from the “main drag” and into some of the back streets. It was on one such walk that I spotted this scene, a hostel with an unusual color exterior color scheme.


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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Meadow, Tarn, and Trees

Meadow, Tarn, and Trees
Small trees near timberline grow in a meadow surrounding a subalpine tarn

Meadow, Tarn, and Trees. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Small trees near timberline grow in a meadow surrounding a subalpine tarn

In the Sierra Nevada photographers are nearly always grateful for clouds. There is a reason that these mountains are referred to as the “range of light” — there is a lot of light! In the summer months we often experience many days of perfect blue skies, often without a single cloud in sight, at least if you don’t include jet contrails from the many routes passing above the range. Clouds play a small part in this photograph, but I think they make a difference.

I made the photograph very near Tioga Pass, along the Sierra crest. I rarely photograph in this specific spot since it can be busy place and it is a bit overdone. (I have plenty of work in my archives that I have photographed from right around here.) But on this day the late light, as the sun was just about to pass behind the tall ridge to the west, was both warm and softened by the clearing overcast. So I stopped and wandered briefly into this intimate landscape of trees, meadow, and tarn.


See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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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Gate and Harbor

Gate and Harbor
Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Gate and Harbor. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Up early and on the train to San Francisco on a sunny spring morning, I got off at the SF Caltrain Station and began walking along the waterfront. This is familiar territory to me, since “train walks” are a somewhat regular event for me, especially during spring and summer. I get off the train and slowly wander in one or another direction on foot, taking time to look. Sometimes it turns into and out-and-back walk, and sometimes something like a loop. (The latter is what happened on this morning.)

I decided to hear toward the bay, past AT&T Park and then along the waterfront. I angled over toward the South Beach Harbor, mainly because of the luminous and intense light coming across the bay as the fog began to clear — so bright that it was almost impossible to look directly into it. As I passed the harbor this shadow fell across the walkway, so I stepped back and shot straight into its shadow, with the harbor and the bay behind.


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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Through the Train Window

Through the Train Window
A moment at a passing Manhattan subway station

Through the Train Window. New York City. December 27, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A moment at a passing Manhattan subway station

I was in the train when I made this photograph. I had started by making a few photographs of the reflections inside the car of people standing the aisle, juxtaposing them with the shape of the window and the lights moving past outside. Frankly, that idea didn’t work this time. But as the train moved into the station and stopped, I saw a moving tableau of passengers getting off and coming onto the train. As so often happens, they seem — to me, at least — to constantly arrange themselves by accident into interesting patterns, of shape and form and of activity.

it is hard to clearly explain what I see in a scene like this — I know what it is, though it is hard to articulate. There are three, maybe four main “characters” in the scene, and they all act without any apparent awareness of the others, in true Manhattan style. The woman in the dark coat holding the bag at the left side is facing the train and holding up both hands to make a cell phone picture. Behind her another woman in black is facing the opposite direction, seemingly busy with something she is holding. To the right a man, whose features are hidden by light blurred by the train window, is busy starting to take a camera out of his bag as he leaves the station. In the middle a woman is walking through the exit gate. The light is strange because I’m shooting through dirty train windows and directly toward the source.


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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