Tag Archives: event

Photographs from “Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required”

This is definitely not landscape photography.

One of the things on my agenda when we spent a week in New York City last month was photographing “Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required,” an unusual event based on Mozart’s opera. Over the course of four evenings at the Gershwin Hotel in Manhattan, a group of singers and instrumentalists and others revealed much that might otherwise not be apparent the opera by “assembling” a portion of the opera each night. The outline of the event was that each evening would begin with an informal rehearsal of a section of the opera, interspersed with commentary from participants, and then conclude with a straight-through reading of the section that had been rehearsed. Beyond that, many of those participating also “took it online” during the event, tweeting and blogging as it took place. (My wife played principal oboe in the orchestra, and I have to tell you it was very strange to get text messages from her during the “show!”)

Photographing the event presented some interesting opportunities along with some challenges. The challenges were mostly what you might expect – concert venues, especially during a “rehearsal” are often not lit with photography in mind, and the space in the Gershwin Hotel where this took place was a virtual nightmare of photographic problems. The walls are bright red! The lighting was very low. There were columns in the middle of the orchestra. All in a day’s work, right? (I mostly shot natural light, and was very glad to have a 135mm f/2 lens and a Canon 5D2 which produces quite decent images at ISO 3200.) The opportunities, however, were worth the challenges. For one, unlike an actual performance at which the noise of a camera is simply unacceptable and, in addition, one needs to be virtually invisible, because this was an informal event I was not only able to shoot as the performance took place, but I was also able to wander around more or less at will. And while performers can often be quite skittish about being photographed during a performance – it creates an unwelcome distraction for them – these performers were very relaxed about it and even seemed to want to be photographed.

I exposed hundreds of frames during the two nights I was there, and I’m only now finding the time to sort through them. I will almost certainly not post all of the photographs here individually, as I would do with a lot of my other work, but (below the “jump”) I will collect many of them in this post. Note that this work is ongoing – I’m starting with an initial set of ten photographs, but others will be added as I update this post later. Continue reading Photographs from “Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required”

Ansel’s Moon

Edie Howe has posted a delightful little slide show made at this week’s Yosemite Valley event, sponsored by the Ansel Adams Gallery, that commemorated the making of the famous Ansel Adams photograph of Half Dome and the rising moon. The idea was that position of the moon and timing relative to daylight would duplicate those at the time of Adams’ original exposure. I enjoyed Edie’s sequence (nice final photograph, Edie!) and looking at some of the (pardon the awful pun) luminaries of Yosemite photography as they held forth in Ahwahnee Meadow. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there!

Perhaps ironically, the moon was hidden behind what appears to be a bit of a snow squall above Half Dome, though it appeared to be clear both before and perhaps after the historic moment! In a way I think that this might have been the most appropriate thing that could have happened. While I don’t think that trying to re-make Ansel Adam’s photograph has any more validity than trying to re-write a Mozart symphony, the event seemed like a great opportunity to: gather together on a beautiful evening in this wonderful meadow, contemplate the evening with the additional context of thoughts about Adams and his photography, meet a number of people influenced by Adams’ legacy, and focus on Adams’ photograph rather than trying to create one’s own version – since the imitative exercise turned out to be impossible!

I wish I had been there.

At the Starting Line – American Velodrome Challenge

At the Starting Line - American Velodrome Challenge

At the Starting Line – American Velodrome Challenge. Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose, California. June 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Intense concentration on the faces of riders waiting at the starting line for their event to begin.

This is a close up shot of a group of riders at the starting line just seconds away from starting their qualifying heat in the keirin event at the American Velodrome Challenge. For those who aren’t familiar with bicycle track racing, in the keirin the first few laps feature the riders drafting behind a motorcycle. After the motorcycle brings the riders up to speed it drops away and a very intense sprint follows. In the photograph the riders can probably hear the motorcycle approaching from behind – as it passes they will take off.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park. San Francisco, California. June 15, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view from the bleacher seats at AT&T Park during a Giants v. Angels game, San Francisco, California (color version).

I shot this during my mid-game photographic wandering – something I do at every Giants game I attend. (On this night, the photography was better than the baseball. While I was out wandering about the score went from 1-0 to 8-1, and in favor of the visiting Angels.) This photograph looks out toward the field from the inexpensive bleacher seating near center field. (Reposted in color at the request of a friend.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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