Tag Archives: frame

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

Schoolhouse Windows and Sky

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Schoolhouse Windows and Sky

Schoolhouse Windows and Sky. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Schoolhouse windows and sky – Rhyolite, Nevada.

Back in April 2008 my brother and I spent several days photographing in and around Death Valley National Park. (I try to visit DV every April, and I’m hoping to be there again this year.) On this morning we got up early and drove to the historic ghost town of Rhyolite before dawn and spent a few hours photographing the old ruins, starting with pre-dawn light and continuing well into the morning. (When we finished we headed over to nearby Beatty, Nevada to get breakfast and gas, the latter at a much lower price than back in DV.) The old school house is one of the buildings that has withstood the ravages of the desert better than others. Despite losing windows, roof, and much else the building still stands – among the destroyed ruins of many other buildings. This photograph, made very close to actual dawn, looks through the interior of the building by lining up windows on a couple walls, with the nearby hills and high morning clouds seen beyond.

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: ghost town, abandoned, school, rhyolite, mine, mining, nevada, death valley, national, park, structure, wall, window, sky, cloud, blue, light, morning, crack, stucco, wood, weathered, pattern, hill, mountain, ridge, shadow, travel, historic, history, scenic, architecture, frame, sill, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Plastic Covered Window

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Plastic Covered Window

Plastic Covered Window. San Jose, California. January 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Plastic covers the window of a stucco house being remodeled in San Jose, California.

This photograph was taken literally within walking distance of my home – I know this because I walked there! At first the slanting shadows dropping from right to left across the wall caught my attention. Then the interplay between the shadows and the deep textures of the stucco wall caught my eye. Eventually, I began to like the plastic sheet (obviously put there to protect the glass from paint) and the way it obscures the interior of the building. In the end I can’t make up my mind whether the photo is simply a geometric/texture study or perhaps something a little more mysterious.

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: plastic, sheet, tape, mask, masking, window. curve, white, frame, curve, glass, frame, brick, arch, wall, stucco, texture, shadow, paint, scraped, peeling, construction, remodel, willow glen, san jose, california, usa, urban, street, structure, building, house, home, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sign, Fabers Bicycles

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Sign, Fabers Bicycles

Sign, Fabers Bicycles. San Jose, California. December 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brightly painted red, yellow, white, and black wall on the old Fabers Bicycles building in San Jose California.

The next few photographs are going to represent something a bit different from what I’ve posted recently – e.g. not natural landscape. Today my son and I went out for a two or three hour urban walk in San Jose, California, wandering through some interesting areas around the downtown area including some old neighborhoods and some very old industrial areas that were originally clustered around long gone railroad tracks. To add to the “sport,” I shot only with a 50mm prime. This photograph is a detail of a brightly painted wall on a very old bicycle shop near the downtown area. It is locally famous for its “bicycle mountain” – a huge pile of probably hundreds and hundreds of old bicycles that used to fill the small fenced yard behind the shop. I understand that the city finally made them do something about this rather interesting eyesore, and today there are still lots of old bicycle frames, forks, wheels and other detritus in the yard but it is now more or less organized on tables and hung overhead.

If you are familiar with my landscape photography and this seems a bit jarring, I think of this sort of thing as “urban landscape.” Although it may seem a bit odd to some, I approach this stuff in a way that is not all that different from how I do landscape photography.

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: fabers, bicycles, bikes, shop, schwinn, chicago, yellow, red, white, black, paint, sign, wall, wood, panel, siding, old, historic, downtown, urban, street, california, usa, pedal, wheel, spokes, frame, chain guard, stock

Commentary, Equipment, News

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Announced

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This evening I’m seeing quite a few links to the announcement of the updated EOS Canon EOS 5D Mark II. (Here is a link to a Canon press release.) Unlike some previous Canon updates that seemed rather trivial – e.g. 20D to 30D – this one includes quite a few compelling new and improved features, and I’m sure this will be a very popular camera.

Some highlights include:

  1. 21MP full-frame sensor
  2. HD video capture
  3. The expected sensor dust reduction/cleaning features
  4. Live view shooting
  5. Some interesting software additions – a “new creative mode,” “peripheral illumination correction” in jpg modes (sounds like compensation for vignetting), and “auto lighting optimizer” (seems to try to deal with recording details in high dynamic range scenes)
  6. Continuous shooting at 3.9 fps
  7. Larger and higher resolution LCD
  8. 150,000 shutter cycles
  9. Expanded ISO range
  10. Price: $2699

For many of us who are attracted to the 5D image quality, the 21MP sensor is a good thing – this camera should compete with the 1DsMKIII on an image quality basis as long as one has good enough lenses and uses careful technique. (I doubt if there will be much IQ advantage if one hand holds the camera in most cases.) It is interesting to note that the increased shutter life is competitive with 1-series cameras as well.

Video capture is quickly going to be a standard feature on DSLRs – though the usefulness of the feature is something that will perhaps only become apparent once these cameras find their way into the hands of those who know how to use the feature effectively and creatively.

The relatively leisurely 3.9 fps burst mode is no surprise. The 5D is not a camera optimized for fast action sports photography that relies on high speed burst mode shooting. But still, at nearly 4 fps it won’t exactly be unusable in this regard either.

The pricing is interesting as well. Whether due to the recent announcement of a $3000 25MP full frame Sony camera and the anticipated competition from a 20+MP Nikon camera or something else, it seems that the prices of full frame cameras – and very capable ones, at that! – are starting to drop.

Will I buy one? I had pretty much decided that I would not buy a 5D upgrade that only provided a 16MP sensor. However, at 21MP this body provides close to double the number of photosites – and such a doubling has been more or less my trigger for an upgrade. Of course, I’m not one to rush to be the first to buy. I’ll let those who are willing to pay any price to be “first on the block” get theirs right away, and I like to see what initial problems are discovered as the first units are released. All of that being said, I think there is a fair chance that I’ll do this upgrade within the next 6 months or so.

Also: Canon announced one new lens, an upgraded EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM. The previous version was thought by some to be less impressive than its 35mm f/1.4 big brother, so it isn’t too surprising that Canon updated this lens. There is also some thought the Canon will update some lenses in order to take better advantage of the higher MP count sensors – they can exceed the resolving ability of some good lenses. It will be interesting to see whether the new 24mm L is a significant improvement over the previous version… and whether it is worth the somewhat shocking (for a prime!) $1699 list price.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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