Tag Archives: golden

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Beyond the Golden Gate

January 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Pacific Ocean and western horizon outside the Golden Gate

A day trip to San Francisco began with a plan to see the David Hockney exhibition at the De Young Museum – important since the show was in its last few days. After spending several hours at this wonderful show, we came up with a vague plan to go somewhere and perhaps photograph something before dark. With a bit less than two hours to go and no more plan than that to go on, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to the north and were distracted by the idea of an espresso stop. By now there wasn’t a lot of time left before sunset, so we simply reversed course and headed back toward the bridge, where we did the “usual thing” and headed up into the Marin Headlands.

This is probably one of the very most popular area tourist destinations in the evening, since these hills north of the Golden Gate provide a classic and romantic view through the Golden Gate Bridge and back toward San Francisco – at least when it isn’t foggy. Since I know this area well, and in all kinds of conditions, at this point I was thinking more about simply enjoying the evening than about making photographs, and when we found a place to stop and park I left my camera equipment in the car. I looked toward The City and decided that I wasn’t going to photograph it… but as I looked to the west I saw some things that did seem a bit more interesting. At first I focused on the silhouette of more westerly cliffs as they dropped down to meet the Pacific. Then, after the sun had set, I decide to go ahead and just photograph the immense surface of the Pacific Ocean, reflecting sky colors and fading into the haze at the horizon.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dune Forms, Evening

January 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Shadows from evening light slanting across curved dune forms, Death Valley National Park

Having photographed here many times, I know these and other dunes of Death Valley fairly well – well enough at this point to have some ideas about where and when to photograph them and to be less interested in the more familiar views. I had spent the majority of the day, starting well before sunrise, exploring and photographing an entirely different area of the park, but as I did so I had formed a general plan to head to the dunes at the end of the day and photograph them in evening light. I had a bit of time after finishing with the first subject, so I headed back to camp to hang out a bit.

I may have hung out just a bit too long! My plans for the dunes were not exactly fixed, though I knew that I wanted to investigate a less visited area of lower dunes away from the main area and that I wanted to be out there shortly before sunset – to shoot the sunset light and then to continue shooting right on past sunset and into the beautiful and subtle dusk light. By the time I got to the dunes, I figured out that the winter sun sets a bit earlier than I had realized, and I had to hurry out to my shooting area. Although I did not have a specific idea of what I would shoot, I had some general ideas involving slanting light, shadows, curving shapes, texture of sand, and possibly some vegetation. But once on the scene I had to work extremely quickly, as the long shadows of the low angle sun moved quickly across the sand, and a new composite of light and shadow would appear only to move and then disappear in a matter of seconds or perhaps a minute or two. Within moments of making this photograph, the last warm sun on the dunes was gone, and I was left with the cold post-sunset light.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Summer Grass, Receding Ridges

January 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late summer dry grass in golden hour light with distant hills receding into the haze

I made this photograph on what we sometimes refer to around here as a “random ride,” on an evening when I wanted to photograph something but didn’t have time or inclination to get to some of the usual spots. I formed a vague plan to head up towards the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, above the Santa Clara Valley. I have a long history with Mount Hamilton. Since I was brought up in the Santa Clara Valley (now known to many as “Silicon Valley”), we used to head up this road when the occasional snow fell in the Diablo Range. Today they close the road when there is snow, but back then the authorities were less restrictive, and many families found their way up there to make snow men and have the rare snowball fights. Later, during a long period when I was a very serious bicyclist, I used to regularly do the 60 or so mile round trip from the valley to the summit and back, often as a morning ride. It is literally true to say that I know many of the twists and turns of this road like I know the back of my hand. As I drove up there on this evening I could still anticipate what the road would do a couple of blind turns beyond where I was.

I think I had a general idea of some photographs including oak trees and grass land, perhaps with evening vistas beyond. But as I drove it seemed like the right wasn’t quite right in most of the promising locations, and where the light was good the subjects didn’t appeal so much. But this turned out to be one of those trips on which I wasn’t anxious about whether or not I would get photographs, so I continued on and even explored a bit. In fact, when all ways said and done, I photographed exactly one subject – making several photographs of this bit of grassy ridge with the sunset light behind it on the receding hills.

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

Aspen Grove, Autumn Snow

January 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Autumn snow blankets a grove of nearly bare aspen trees

We began this year’s main eastern Sierra “aspen chasing” trip on a day when an early season snow storm closed all of the passes that are not designated at being “all-season,” so Tioga, Sonora, and Ebbetts were all closed. Our best alternative was to cross on highway 88 over Carson Pass. Not that this is a bad thing! Carson features large stands of aspens on the west side of the pass and then the descent through aspen-filled Hope Valley on the east side. From there we headed down through Markleeville and up over Monitor Pass, which also has large aspen stands near its summit. After descending, we headed south on highway 395 toward Bishop, with light rain or snow falling all day – in my view, perfect conditions for autumn photography!

Along the way we made plenty of stops and a few side excursions to explore various side canyons, many of which I know fairly well from past visits. This photograph was made on one of those side roads, and this particular stand of aspen trees is one that I know very well. I’ve stopped here every year for some time now, in conditions ranging from almost fully green trees (too early!) to bare trees (too late!), and in sun and clouds and wind and snow. This time we found that the little grove was close to the highest elevation of the remaining colorful trees, so we stopped and I spent a little time photographing inside the grove… in lightly falling snow and a very cold wind.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: golden

Beyond the Golden Gate

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Dune Forms, Evening

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Summer Grass, Receding Ridges

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Aspen Grove, Autumn Snow

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.