Tag Archives: gold

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of very brightly painted yet terribly dilapidated doorways near the border of Chinatown and North Beach, San Francisco, California.

A question: If you are wandering about in The City (or the city ;-)  and carrying a camera, how can you not photograph something like this?

These wildly painted yet badly dilapidated doors are on a relatively nondescript street more or less along the boundary between Chinatown and North Beach.

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.

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keywords: bright, color, yellow, gold, red, blue, aqua, psychedelic, doors, two, pair, window, run down, dilapidated, worn, paint, glass, mail, slot, knob, lock, 1432, 1430, arch, doorway, entrance, wall, purple, peeling, flag, decal, tile, step, mat, frame, crack, north beach, chinatown, urban, downtown, street, san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, local, sidewalk, gaudy, stock

Cattails, Morning Light

Cattails, Morning Light

Cattails, Morning Light. Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Summer cattails in morning light at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

OK, this time no alpine scene from high meadows near the crest of the Sierra – instead a cattail growing along the bank of a small pond perhaps ten miles from my home at a place where I frequently hike. This morning I decided to get up early and head out here with no particular photographic goal in mind. When I arrived at the pond I thought I might photograph some birds – in fact, I just missed photographing my local egret, which flew away just as I was getting out my camera. So, instead of photographing the birds – and instead of continuing on for a longer morning hike – I spent more than an hour here photographing the cattails and patterns of summer grasses in the morning light.

Yesterday I visited SF MOMA to see two photographic shows – the photographs of Richard Avedon in one and the photographs of Ansel Adams and paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe in the other. As I looked at the out of focuse patterns of grasses, such as those in the background of this photograph, I thought about the colors and patterns of the O’Keeffe paintings.

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.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, light, blue, gold, brown, yellow, green, bokeh, stalk, seed, stock

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake

Reflection, Topsy Turvy Lake. John Muir Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California. August 6, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Golden evening light from surrounding peaks reflects from the surface of rock-studded Topsy Turvy Lake.

This is my first photograph from my early August “backpack trip that almost didn’t happen but somehow worked out in the end.” Originally we had planned a week-long excursion into the far reaches of the upper Kern river drainage in the heart of the Sierra Nevada. However, for a variety of reasons those plans began to collapse a couple weeks before the trip – so three of us salvaged a shorter trip into the Sabrina Basin area above Bishop, California. Then, the night before this trip – while I was packing! – I cracked a tooth. At that point I thought that the trip was off for sure, but my dentist agreed to see me the next morning. By noon I had a temporary dental fix in place and I completed last-minute packing and other business and was on the road at 2:30, arriving to meet my hiking partners at Four Jeffrey Campground above Bishop at 9:00 p.m.

On top of all that, the Sierra weather forecast included the possibility of snow, in the form of an autumn-like weather system passing across the northern portion of the range. Undaunted – but equipped with a bit more cold weather gear than we might usually carry in August – we headed up to Blue Lake on the first day and then moved on to Topsy Turvy lake on day two. While it never did snow, it was very windy and quite cold on the first two nights.

This photograph of rock-filled Topsy Turvy Lake was made in the early evening when the light had already left the lake’s surface but was still illuminating the ridge to the east and creating striking and colorful reflections in the lake’s surface.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: topsy, turvy, lake, rock, boulder, morraine, water, ripple, surface, reflection, gold, evening, sunset, island, shore, talus, sierra, nevada, sabrina, basin, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, hike, backpack, camp, shadow, stock, john, muir, wilderness, area

Submerged Rocks and Reflected Light, Tenaya Creek

Submerged Rocks and Reflected Light, Tenaya Creek

Submerged Rocks and Reflected Light, Tenaya Creek. Yosemite National Park, California. May 9, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two rocks submerged by spring runoff water in Tenaya Creek with reflectioned light from new growth on the opposite bank, Yosemite Valley, California.

This is basically the vertical format version of the scene that I posted earlier – high and fast spring runoff flow in Tenaya Creek just below Mirror Lake, with color reflected from new spring growth on the far bank of the creek.

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: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, use, valley, national park, tenaya, creek, stream, river, runoff, spring, high, water, submerged, rock, flow, wave, spray, rapids, yellow, gold, transparent, translucent, abstract, nature, landscape, travel, scenic, mountains, white, stock