Tag Archives: green

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Yellow Wall, Hellbrunn Palace

January 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yellow walls, green shutters, and the ubiquitous metal street lamps, Hellbrunn Palace near Salzburg, Austria

Hellbrunn is the site of the famous water garden, including a variety of “trick” fountains. I had never heard of the place, but our family guides thought it would be a good place to visit, so there we went. It was a palace for a member of Austrian nobility at one point (there’s more to the story than that…), and the story goes that he enjoyed playing tricks on guests. As a result, the grounds feature not only the usual huge lawns, statues, manicured gardens and so forth, but also a lot of water, some used to create all sorts of tricks and oddities.

There are benches from which water may spray on the person sitting there, doorways to small buildings that can suddenly spray the visitor, water that sprays up from sidewalks, and animated scene powered by water, a water powered organ, and more. The buildings, which are quite extensive, also include more staid living quarters, places to entertain guests, and art collections. As we walked around, I noticed the same street lamps attached to the exterior walls that I had seen elsewhere in Salzburg, so I included an example in this photograph of the corner of a brightly painted building.

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

Downtown Storefronts

December 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A row of downtown bars and restaurants, Seattle, Washington

This is another Seattle photograph, shot quickly in street style while walking around portions of the city and exploring. It is hard for me to put my finger on precisely what it is that appeals to me about subjects like this, but let me make an attempt. My first impression of such a location, especially in the daytime when everything is more clearly seen and fewer people are around, is that a lot of it is simply run down and even drab – weathered bricks, worn and peeling paint, construction that isn’t quite square. This patina of age and use is itself interesting, and somehow a photograph of it (or the act of making a photograph of it) helps me see it for what it is and for what else I might otherwise not see.

On the large scale, there are patterns that appeal to me – and, yes, patterns are part of my way of seeing. The scene is divided into successively smaller and smaller rectangular shapes for the most part, ranging from the largest one formed by the green facade to the very small ones formed by things like the spaces between the bars of a gate. Superimposed on this are things that don’t fit the geometric grid – the car (which also seems a bit out of context with the old buildings), the roughly triangular shapes of umbrellas, and many other odd little bits and pieces. In fact, if you like this sort of thing, seeing those “bits and pieces” might make the photo become a bit more than what it first seems to be: the figure of a red and white chef statue in the window at far right above some sort of bright green carts, the tree bright blue flower pots and a pink watering can on a ledge, the bright colors near the “Il Chiosco” sign, one door that has been varnished rather than painted the same drab colors as everything else, etc.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Granite

October 30, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A stand of aspen with fall color in front of a granite filled slope, eastern Sierra Nevada

This beautiful stand of aspen trees is easily visible from the main highway running up and down the eastern Sierra, and I notice the trees every time that I drive past. It is across a small meadow where sheep graze at certain times of the year, and the trees are set against the backdrop of a small rocky hillside. I have stopped here before, but most often either the light hasn’t been quite right (I have been looking for a certain combination of back- and side-light) or the leaf color hasn’t been exactly idea.

On this October eastern Sierra trip we passed this spot quite a few times as we looked for photographic subjects in nearby areas. Conditions ranged from snow to fog to night to midday. Each time I again looked over at the trees and thought about the conditions in which I could photograph them, and because the trip was an extended one I passed by a few times when I could have stopped and photographed. Finally, on the second-to-last day of the visit, I figured out that I might or might not pass them again on this trip, the trees were showing a lot of color, and the light seemed about right.

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

Aspens and Pines

October 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few pine trees stand among the autumn aspens near Conway Summit in the eastern Sierra Nevada

I made this photograph in the vicinity of a well-known and easily accessible aspen color “hot spot” in the eastern Sierra, at Conway Summit along highway 395 north of Lee Vining. Here is one of the largest and most easily accessible areas of aspen color in the eastern Sierra, since it is in a large open area with grand vistas up aspen covered slopes and because these slopes rise from an open section of the highway. At the right point in time (almost) every season, trees in every stage of color may be seen, ranging from green through yellow, orange, and red to bare trees that have lost all of their leaves.

This season I was in the eastern Sierra for five days, ranging between Carson Pass in the north and as far south as the Bishop Creek drainage. Several times during this period I managed to end up at or near Conway Summit. The first visit was on the trip over to Bishop, when we drove 395 down from Carson and Monitor Passes in the middle of an early season snow storm. Arriving at the summit that day, I photographed this area in falling snow that almost obscured the trees. Only two days later I was there again in the afternoon, when the backlight coming across the Sierra crest can cause the autumn aspen leaves to glow with great intensity. For this photograph I found a spot where the nearer trees were largely bare except for a few trees still holding a few golden leaves.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: green

Yellow Wall, Hellbrunn Palace

Downtown Storefronts

Aspens and Granite

Aspens and Pines

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