Tag Archives: fence

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Red-Tailed Hawk

December 13, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A red-tailed hawk perches on the top of a fence post.

Birds like this one are everyone in the west once you start looking for them, though they are not often easy to approach. In a place like this, where there are many thousands of other birds, these raptors are always there but in much smaller numbers. I frequently see them perched high in large trees or flying past, sometimes provoking reactions from the other birds.

This one teased me a bit. The first time I saw it, much earlier in the day, it was standing on this same fence post and watching a nearby field. Every so often it would take off and, I presume, hunt for something to eat before returning a few minutes later. I never was able to get close to it, so I stayed at a distance and watched. I returned much later in the day, when warm early sunset light was shining on the bird and starting to turn the sky pink. As I drove past on the gravel road it didn’t budge, so I stopped and rolled down a window and photographed it perching on “its” fence post.

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

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Red and White Cars, Fence

July 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Red and white cars parked behind a white-painted metal fence, Venice, California

Just because I made the photograph on April Fools Day doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a joke. Or does it? (Probably not.)

We were in Venice, California for a) our daughter’s birthday and b) a visit to the G2 Gallery, a great gallery space that presents a lot of work that I/we can relate to — work by Jack Dykinga, among others, was there when we visited. Once we finished in the gallery it was time to look for coffee and food, so we wandered off down the street. As usual, I lagged behind making photographs of various bits and pieces of the urban landscape. This was an odd little place. It appears to have originally been a church, but is now some sort of office. The entire building is painted start white, including the metal fence across the front. Inside were a bunch of white cars (!), but with one bright red one. A photograph was called for…

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

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reclining Man, San Francisco Bay

June 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man rests along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay

It is usually not my habit to photograph the down and out, homeless people, and other photographic clichés — I often (though not quite always) feel that such photography can be too easy, can create a false impression of concern and engagement, and that the invasion of the subject’s privacy may raise some ethical questions that concern me. But like most rules, there are exceptions, and this subject seemed to be one for me.

There was something about this man, reclining quietly in the sun along this popular stretch of San Francisco’s scenic waterfront that has, looked at it certain ways, a kind of nobility. Something about him and his location and pose reminds me of certain Renaissance paintings. And, frankly, his appearance seems to me to coalesce and possibly completely change what would otherwise simply be another scenic San Francisco urban landscape photograph.

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

White Building, Overpass, Empty Lot

September 6, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Urban scene, downtown San Francisco

This is another urban landscape, and it is at least partially about light. I was walking north toward the central Market Street area of The City when I passed underneath this highway overpass. I had stopped to photograph some interesting columns and fences there, since the area is currently transformed by a major construction project, with lanes close and fences up everywhere.

Emerging from the underpass I looked across the street and back at the edge of the highway above and saw the start nearly-white building, the empty lot, the cyclone fencing, the bridge and the way that all of these forms fit together, especially with the linkage from diagonal lines of the large shadow and its smaller twin, the foreground fencing also descending from left to right.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: fence

Red-Tailed Hawk

Red and White Cars, Fence

Reclining Man, San Francisco Bay

White Building, Overpass, Empty Lot

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.