Tag Archives: floor

Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stairway, Olympic Sculpture Park

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Stairway, Seattle Sculpture Park

Stairway, Seattle Sculpture Park. Seattle, Washington. June 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stairway ascends to the second floor of the PACCAR Pavilion at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, Washington.

I visit Seattle on a fairly regular basis since various relatives live or used to live in the area. I had heard about the Olympic Sculpture Park for years before I finally got to visit on a cold New Years Day a few years ago – and since that visit I’ve always looked forward to visiting and photographing the park. This time I was only there for a very short time – perhaps 30-45 minutes between a midday activity and departure to Seatac for my flight back home – so I only photographed a few subjects. This stairway intrigued me with its crazy angles, the combination of real objects and almost-imaginary reflected versions of them, and the soft light coming through the windows from the overcast Seattle sky.

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.

keywords: stairs, stairway, steps, ascend, rail, hand, handrail, column, window, door, glass, pipe, panel, structure, architecture, light, ceiling, room, light, reflection, mirror, blue, seattle, PACCAR, Pavilion, sculpture, park, art, museum, sam, washington, usa, travel, second, floor, digaonal, vertical, horizontal, tread, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Five Sequoias, Mariposa Grove

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Five Sequoias, Mariposa Grove

Five Sequoias, Mariposa Grove. Yosemite National Park, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The massive trunks of five giant sequoia trees in soft afternoon light, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park.

Believe it or not, as much of the Sierra as I’ve visited, it has been (many) decades since I last visited the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias near Wawona in the southern area of Yosemite National Park. How many decades may shock you – if I recall correctly, it was when I was a child and my family visited. I’m pretty certain that we actually drove through the old “tunnel tree” before it fell. Since then I have visited other Sierra redwood groves but not nearly often enough. I was reminded of this last summer on a return drive from a southern Sierra pack trip took me though Sequoia National Park. I had forgotten the impact of traveling through a “normal” forest of large Sierra trees and coming upon the stupendous and massive red brown towers of these magnificent trees.

With this in the back of my mind – and the weather being more conducive to shooting in the forest than to shooting grand open landscapes – I decided to detour to Mariposa at the end of my weekend shoot in and around Yosemite. First, I found out – the somewhat hard way – that things have changed since my childhood visit. I naively drove to the road leading to the grove only to be met by the nice people in the international orange vests who informed me that there was no parking and that I’d have to drive back to Wawona, park my car, and take the free shuttle. Ah, well, probably for the best. So I joined the throngs on the shuttle system and returned to the grove. By this point my time was somewhat limited since the final return shuttle was scheduled to leave barely and hour and a half later, so I hoisted my camera pack and put my tripod on my shoulder and started up the well used trail, ultimately getting a bit past the “Grizzly Tree” before turning back. Despite the tremendous number of tourists joining me on this trail – many from places all around the globe – I was able to find some photographs in the afternoon light softened by partly cloudy skies.

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.

keywords: redwood, Sequoiadendron giganteum, sierra, nevada, sequoia, tree, trunk, base, bark, grove, forest, mariposa, vertical, massive, wellingtonia, wawona, afternoon, light, diffused, floor, moss, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, foliage, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, stock, burn, fire, scar, brown, spring

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Morning at the Rhyolite School

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Morning at the Rhyolite School

Morning at the Rhyolite School. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light slants through the windows and across the floor of the old schoolhouse in the ghost town of Rhyolite Nevada.

Although it is not the most iconic structure at the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada (very close to Death Valley National Park), I’m intrigued by the ruins of the old Rhyolite School. It is one of the more intact structures – while the roof is gone, many of the walls are still standing, as is the main floor seen in the photo. I like to photograph both the exterior and interior of this structure. There is something compelling about the school with its missing roof and windows leaving the interior open to the sky, and this building makes me think about the lives of the people who lived here more than other buildings like the bank and railroad station.

I made this photograph in the early morning after photographing dawn light on the bank building and the distance Amargosa Valley and Mountains and, beyond that, Telescope Peak in Death Valley’s Panamint Range. The sun was still fairly low, providing the slanting light though the windows. If you look closely at the far windows you can make out some of the other buildings of Rhyolite.

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.

keywords: school, house, building, ruins, dilapidated, weathered, window, wall, brick, stucco, concrete, light, slant, floor, old, historic, ghost, town, abandoned, sky, blue, cloud, morning, sunrise, dawn, nevada, usa, mine, interior, rhyolite, crack, gravel, travel, scenic, stock, death valley, national park

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Textures

Grass, Point Lobos

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Grass, Point Lobos

Grass, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A thick carpet of spring grass at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

As I hiked through the pine forest in the southern part of the Point Lobos State Reserve on a foggy day during the last weekend of April the spring grasses and wildflowers (and poison oak!) were growing everywhere. I had stopped to photograph a scene of pines with a meadow containing yellow flowers when I spotted one large clump of very green grass that had been blown or otherwise pushed into this interesting pattern.

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.

keywords: grass, plant, carpet, mat, thick, pattern, green, bud, flower, blade, leaf, foliage, vegetation, plant, nature, forest, floor, pine, grove, point lobos, state, reserve, park, california, usa, travel, scenic, monterey, carmel, peninsula, stock