Tag Archives: figure

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Photographers

Photographer, Raging Surf

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Photographer, Raging Surf
A photographer stands on headlands bluffs to photograph huge Big Sur swells

Photographer, Raging Surf. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A photographer stands on headlands bluffs to photograph huge Big Sur swells

On this day of gigantic Pacific Coast surf, I stopped at the first location I came to that afforded close access to the bluffs above the raging surf. I grabbed camera, one lens, and tripod and set out on one of the informal use trails between the Pacific Coast Highway and the surf, eventually finding a side trail that took me to a spectacular overlook with views to the south across the surf and into the light. (I mostly shoot “contre jour,” or into the light in these conditions, since that enhances the light on the mist and waves, among other reasons.) Soon it was time to move on, so I packed up and started back up to my car.

At the top of the trail I took one last look before packing and moving on to my next location. As I did I saw a photographer on the spine of one of the ridges running toward the sea, and noticed that he was backed by some truly astounding surf. So I quickly held up, put my tripod back up again, and made a few exposures as he stood against the background of the huge waves.

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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Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrian, Old Buildings

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Pedestrian, Old Buildings
A pedestrian walks past a Paris wall full of interesting shapes

Pedestrian, Old Buildings. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pedestrian walks past a Paris wall full of interesting shapes

Folks like this fellow are often subjects in my street photography. I frequently located an interesting group of buildings or similar, and then I wait for a person to populate the scene. Fortunately, this fellow came by pretty quickly after I had worked out my composition and so forth.

The person is interesting and provides a central focus. However, I feel like the photograph is actually more about the architecture than the person. The person does give the image a focus, but I was more interested in the almost-cubist forms of the wall here. The colors are all rather muted, though the dynamic range is quite large.

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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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Travel

Courtyard at the Louvre, Evening

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Courtyard at the Louvre, Evening
In the evening a shadowy figure walks across the courtyard in front of the Louvre.

Courtyard at the Louvre, Evening. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

In the evening a shadowy figure walks across the courtyard in front of the Louvre.

Close to the end of our time in Paris this past summer we had a magical evening. As I recall, we had no particular plan at this point, but it was a warm late afternoon so we decided to walk. We headed towards the Seine and crossed at Pont Neuf right at sunset. There were thousands of people everywhere — walking, looking at the view, sitting along the river bank, dancing along the walkways, making music, riding bicycles, you name it.

Eventually, shortly after the actual time of sunset, we walked across a bridge and entered the courtyard of the Louvre. Still there were people everywhere, though things seemed to be slowing down — more of them were standing or sitting, watching the sky. I wandered into this courtyard at twilight, just after the lights on the building had come on, and I paused to make a few handheld photographs of the scene. In this one, a blurry figure seems to be exiting the scene to the right.

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman at Crosswalk

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Woman at Crosswalk
A women waits alone at a cross walk for the light to change, San Francisco.

Woman at Crosswalk. San Francisco, California. September 5, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A women waits alone at a crosswalk for the light to change, San Francisco.

One thing that might surprise some folks about my street photograph is that I do not think that it is unrelated to my nature and landscape photography. I think that it all connects together as “photography,” whether the subject is a mountain or a building, a bird or a person. I also believe that photographing more than one type of subject — which some might regard as a dilution of vision — actually makes me better at seeing all kinds of subjects as photographs. Shooting street, where things often happen quite quickly and in the midst of a lot of visual stimuli, forces me to be “on” all the time, to see potential subjects quickly, to recognize things that work instinctively, and to look for juxtapositions. And photographing natural landscape subjects informs the way I see the urban landscape.

One obvious potential thread in urban photograph is the juxtaposition of individual figures against a constructed and sometimes massive and impersonal urban landscape. I often look for these “stages” and then watch for people to appear and populate them. This location can actually be a fairly busy street corner, but here I first found the massive stone building, then waited for the scene to clear with the exception of the solitary woman waiting for the light.

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