Tag Archives: green

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

Door Knob, Green Wall, and Grass

June 8, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A worn green wall with doorknob, grass along the street, Fremont District, Seattle, Washington.

I made this photograph on my one-hour “Seattle PhotoWalk” in the Fremont District back in early May. A group of Seattle photographs was getting together to photograph between here and the Gas Works Park in the late afternoon and evening, and it turned out that I was in the Seattle area and able to pry open a bit of time in my schedule to meet up with them and explore the interesting photographic opportunities in the Fremont area.

We started in what I suppose must be “downtown Fremont,” right beneath the statue of Lenin. Yes, a statue of Lenin. It is a long story – but the short version, as I understand it, involves a post-Glasnost trip to the junk yard (in Poland) for the statue, its discover there by someone from Seattle who thought it had historical significance, its transport to the US, and then setting it up in Fremont for lack of a better place. Or something like that. (Google Fremont Lenin statue for more.) In any case, from the meet up at the statue we commenced our “photo walk,” and first explored the immediate surroundings. A lot of the buildings right there seem pretty old and a bit worn – though they have also been modified and updated in interesting and sometimes idiosyncratic ways. Take this bright green wall and door, for example! I was struck by the juxtaposition of the garish green paint and the natural green of the grasses that had sprung up at the base of the wall.

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

Murphy Point and Murphy Hogback, Evening

June 3, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light on the brow of Murphy Point, with Murphy Hogback leading to the right and the areas of the Green and Colorado Rivers confluence and the Needles beyond, Canyonlands National Park.

When I photographed from the Green River Overlook in Canyonlands National Park back in early April, I arrived there in the evening with one shot definitely planned out ahead of time (though the conditions were, as they often are, a bit of a pleasant surprise once I arrived) and one sort of half planned. The first was a shot across the rugged terrain to the west and southwest through which the Green River has carved a deep and twisting canyon. The second was of more or less the same subject, but shot in vertical format with a longer lens and tracking some of the formations out toward the horizon.

Once there, I quickly figured out my shooting location – to be honest, there are quite a few options and unless you include cliff-top foreground subjects you don’t have to be terribly particular. I composed the first, landscape-orientation shot and then sort of went back and forth between that image and the vertical shot as the light evolved. As I did this and the low angle light began to cut through some of the haze a bit more, the terrain to my south that I had not really thought about earlier started to look a bit more interesting. From the Green River Overlook, the upper sandstone cliffs first curve back away from the river canyon, then run south, and once again extend a bit out into the canyon at Murphy Point, the impressive prominence at the left side of this photograph. One thousand feet below, Murphy Hogback – a flat-topped ridge – extends further toward the Green River. Beyond that the terrain extends into the distance, full of features that were unfamiliar to me but still very impressive – a series of plateaus, often with white rock edges, steep drop-offs into deep canyons, more distant and barely visible towers and other formations. From what I’ve read since then, I’m pretty certain that beyond the shoulder of Murphy Point, I am seeing the area roughly where the Green and Colorado Rivers meet and beyond that the area known as The Needles.

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

Turk’s Head, Green River, Evening Haze

June 2, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Green River curves past Turk’s Head in evening haze, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

Just to the west of the “Island in the Sky” area of Canyonlands National Park, the Green River flows though deep and rugged canyons on its way to the confluence with the Colorado River. The river and its tributary streams have cut thousands of feet down through the layers of rock, exposing plateaus and steep canyon walls and more sandstone than can be believed. At Turks’ Head the river winds through a very large S-curve that widens the lower part of the canyon.

I had begun shooting the evening light at the Green River Overlook somewhat earlier on this evening, and by the time I made this photograph the direct light was almost gone – a bit of it is still hitting the cliff faces at lower left and glancing across the tops of nearby flat areas. It was a rather hazy evening, which is part of what attracted me to this spot – I love shooting into or across back-lit haze which can almost glow in the right light and which can also enhance the sense of distance in the scene. Of course, most of the “glow” was gone by this time, and the result is something a lot more subtle with the most distant terrain above the far end of a tributary canyon almost disappearing into the distant haze.

Photographs: Nature

Red Tulip, Green Grass

May 29, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In Memoriam: Joyce Emerson

Red Tulip, Green Grass - A bright red tulip grows among grass and weeds, Seattle, Washington — A bright red tulip grows among grass and weeds, Seattle, Washington

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: green

Door Knob, Green Wall, and Grass

Murphy Point and Murphy Hogback, Evening

Turk’s Head, Green River, Evening Haze

Red Tulip, Green Grass

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