Tag Archives: glen

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cliff, Slabs, and Sunset Tree

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Cliff, Slabs, and Sunset Tree
Cliff, Slabs, and Sunset Tree

Cliff, Slabs, and Sunset Tree. Yosemite National Park, California. September 9, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hazy evening light slants across steep granite cliffs and slabs and trees

This was not quite the very last photograph I made on my recent 10-day Sierra sojourn, but it was close. Our exit from the backcountry was scheduled for the following morning, and camp busy-ness (and general end-of-trip laziness) would mean no morning photography the next day, so I went to nearby area of beautiful granite slabs and canyon views and went to work, photographing on into the evening light and eventually stopping only after the sun had set.

We often hear that the vast majority of visitors to Yosemite only visit The Valley, and that they regard that small but spectacular place as being the whole of the experience of the park… and that they are entirely wrong. In a sense I am grateful that most visitors do not crowd into the high country in the same way they do in The Valley, even though a part of me is disappointed that they miss so many other astonishing beauties. I cannot think of a juxtaposition of cliff and slabs and trees in the Valley that is more beautiful than this spot, especially in the evening when the last rays of the sun shine up this valley and illuminate cliff edges and the branches of trees.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Foliage and Sandstone

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Autumn Foliage and Sandstone - A bush with a few remaining autumn leaves in front of an s-shaped crack in a sandstone wall
A bush with a few remaining autumn leaves in front of an s-shaped crack in a sandstone wall

Autumn Foliage and Sandstone. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah. October 28, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bush with a few remaining autumn leaves in front of an s-shaped crack in a sandstone wall

At the suggestion of another photographer, near the end of our trip we decided to investigate the canyon in which I photographed this tree. The canyon begins in an inauspicious manner, in a shallow wash at the bottom of a slight canyon – the sort of place you could easily drive through and not particularly notice it. There is no sign to mark the route. Following the wash downstream across the flats, another wash joins from the right and soon the sandy bottom becomes rocky as the route meets the top of a sandstone layer. This layer gradually tilts higher and begins to form low walls, and almost before you know it you are inside the beginning of the canyon. A very narrow slot with a large drop-off interrupts the passage and the route detours around it before dropping back into the bottom of the canyon.

Before long, and almost before you know it, the sandstone walls of the canyon become hundreds of feet tall and even begin to overhang the canyon in places, and it is now clear that you have entered the alternate and isolated universe of a deep canyon. At first the canyon is rather barren, but after some distance there are more trees as the route turns and twists downward. As always, surprises appear continually. In this case of this photograph, a simple little bush happened to appear in front of an s-curve marking the edge of a joint in the sandstone where rock had fallen away, and the light reflected among the canyon walls colored the sandstone red.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Vacant Retail Space

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Vacant Retail Space - An empty retail space after being vacated by a departing tenant.
Vacant Retail Space - An empty retail space after being vacated by a departing tenant.

Vacant Retail Space. San Jose, California. December 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An empty retail space after being vacated by a departing tenant.

Switching gears from the natural to the constructed, this is a photograph of a large and very vacant retail space in San Jose, California – shot on a late-December walk in a part of the city not far from where I live. This was once the location of a very busy and popular retail establishment that got caught  by the current economic problems and some changes in technology that put their business model at risk. Only a very few hints of the nature of the original business remain at this point. The facility has now been vacant for several months, and despite new construction nearby it does not yet show any sign of new occupants coming in.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Simplicity

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Simplicity - A small appliance store front window with many colorful signs, San Jose, California.
A small appliance store front window with many colorful signs, San Jose, California.

Simplicity. San Jose, California. December 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small appliance store front window with many colorful signs, San Jose, California.

This is another in the “walked out my front door and made photographs” series, being a store front that is within a half mile or so of my home. I’m a bit of a fan of photographing the fronts of these small businesses that appear to be anything but chain operations. Each one is its own unique universe and, I assume, reflects the owner’s personality in many ways including the cumulative effect of focusing on one small area of the world for many decades. I often wonder what it must be like to live in a world of vacuum cleaners for more than five decades – and I don’t mean to imply anything by that question beyond a serious interest in how our primary interests end up influencing how we experience and see the world.

The visual quality of these places also interests me. I can initially simply be overwhelmed by the details that must have accumulated over time – the many brightly colored signs, a few things hung on walls, displays of specialized equipment and materials with brand names I barely recognize. Yet there is a very carefully created order in all of this. It is fun – for me at least! – to spend some time looking at these scenes and starting to pick out the small details that I might not initially notice. (Of course, that is easier with a big print than it is with this little jpg!)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.