Tag Archives: europe

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Travel

Salzburg Cathedral

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Salzburg Cathedral
The interior of the Salzburg Cathedral.

Salzburg Cathedral. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The interior of the Salzburg Cathedral.

This photograph comes from the same trip that produced the recent photograph of mountain landscape in Bavaria. It turns out that the latter location (in the Berchtesgaden area) is very close to the German/Austrian border, and Salzburg is just on the other side of that border… and Salzburg is where we arrived and departed by train. In the end, despite staying in Bavaria we ended up spending considerable time in Salzburg, the location of this famous and remarkable Baroque-style cathedral.

I’ll use this photograph as an excuse to share a bit about my approach to travel photography. Nearly a decade ago I stopped carrying large cameras and big lenses when I travel, instead using a smaller system with (mostly) relatively small prime lenses. We travel light, preferring to limit ourselves to carry-on luggage, and this approach helps achieve that goal. The smaller and lighter gear also, I think, improves my travel photography. I’m less weighed down by bags of heavy equipment, and I look less like “tourist photographer,” which may let me work without attracting as much attention. This photograph was made using a small 14mm prime lens on a APS-C camera, shooting handheld.

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: Germany, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Bavarian Alps at Königssee

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Bavarian Alps at Königssee
Alpine ridges and peaks above the Königssee, Bavaria.

Bavarian Alps at Königssee. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Alpine ridges and peaks above the Königssee, Bavaria.

Today’s photograph ties together several threads — mountain landscapes, travel, and my continuing pandemic survey and reevaluation of older photographic files. This photograph comes from a wonderful trip we took almost a decade ago. Among other things, we all rented a big “farm house” near this location for a week — with a backyard view of the Watzmann massif, the highest peak wholly within Germany. (If I’m correct, the face on the right in this photograph leads up toward that summit.)

We did the tourist thing on this day, taking the electric boats up the Königssee lake to St. Bartholomä, from which we did the hike to the Eiskapelle at the base of a mountain face where fallen snow and ice collects. The photograph is from the boat. Every mountain range seems to have a personality of its own, and here (at least while we were there) the very steep faces, the forest along the lower slopes, the large meadows, the soft light and haze, and the non-granitic rock (which gets the attention of this Sierra guy) seemed to define this range.

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel

Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg

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Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg
Interior of the Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg, Germany.

Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interior of the Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg, Germany.

Continuing my pandemic “virtual travels” via my old raw file archives, I’m now out of London and in Heidelberg, Germany. This town is a sort of home base for us when we travel to Europe, mainly because we have relatives who live there. We love visiting (and traveling beyond Heidelberg with) them, and on longer travels we have used Heidelberg as a place to decompress for a few days. In other words, we’re fond of the place! This photograph is the interior of the Heiliggeistkirche in the altstadt section of the town.

This photograph illustrates something I learned years ago when photographing another subject that also makes impressive use of soaring, vertical space — the redwood forests of California. My early instinct with those forests was to almost always shoot in vertical “portrait” mode to try to get everything in frame. Eventually I learned that the implication of absent height can speak as loudly as its inclusion, and I began to photograph the trees in horizontal “landscape” orientation, and sometimes even very wide panoramic views. I think that the same principle is at work here, and the fact that the vertical structures extend beyond the frame may invite the viewer to consider just how tall the space is.

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

Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Souvenir Shop, Vienna

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Souvenir Shop, Vienna
Night photograph of a souvenir shop in Vienna, Austria

Souvenir Shop, Vienna. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of a souvenir shop in Vienna, Austria.

We had plans — still do, sort of — to go back to Europe later this year. At the moment, while we have not cancelled anything yet, it is looking more and more likely that those plans will end up being cancelled. At least I can plow back into my raw file archive from previous trips and go there vicariously for now!

Almost two years ago we were on the road, mostly in Europe, for seven weeks in the summer. We spent a few days in New York City before flying to London for a very short visit. From there we did a large loop through The Netherlands, Germany, and France. Along the way we made four-day stops in several cities, saw three Wagner operas at the Bayreuth Festival, and then met up with family at a big place we rented not far outside of Paris. This photograph comes from our visit to Vienna, and on this evening I went out with a small camera and one lens to photograph the night scene.

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.

Blog | About | 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.