Tag Archives: haze

Photographs: England, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Summer Twilight, River Thames

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Summer Twilight, River Thames
“Summer Twilight, River Thames” — The twilight sky above the River Thames on a summer evening in London.

This photograph comes from the end of a memorable day in London back in 2013. Believe it or not, this was our first visit to that city. We made the best of it, staying there for about a week before departing for other destinations. Various relatives from the US and Europe also showed up while we were there, and it was on this day, if my memory is correct, that the whole gang had finally arrived and met up. We had just had dinner together and were now along the Thames watching the day come to an end.

This photograph brings up the subject of how to interpret scenes photographed in very low light. It was the beginning of summer twilight on this July evening — there was still light and color in the sky, but artificial light was becoming more visible as in became darker. My tendency is to interpret light in ways that bring more of it to the subject, but with night and near-night photography it is easy to go so far that you lose the sense of a dark environment. In this photograph I decided to keep things relatively dark, at least compared to what I could have done, in the hope that the effect would be close to how we would perceive the scene in person.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze

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Bluffs, Surf, and Haze
Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

Bluffs, Surf, and Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin fog obscures distant views beyond coastal bluffs and waves along the Pacific Coast of California.

The scenes like this one that I photograph, visit and revisit… the more clear is the contrast between their timeless nature and the way we live our lives. This photograph comes from over almost a decade ago — which either feels like a very short time or a very long time right now — but it could have come from virtually any time in the past. There’s nothing obvious in it to link to any particular time.

The scene likely feels familiar to anyone who lives near or visits locations where coastal flatlands run up against the edge of the continent. The sea eventually wins the inevitable battle, and in the process produces a stark contrast between gentle, flat bluffs and the cliffs at their edges, which drop precipitously into the ocean and leave behind sea stacks and small islands. On this evening the sea was rather quiet and a thin fog was beginning to obscure distant views.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

The Headlands, Evening

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The Headlands, Evening
Pacific Coast headlands at sunset on a hazy evening.

The Headlands, Evening. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pacific Coast headlands at sunset on a hazy evening.

As I post this photograph it is the middle of winter, and here in California we just experienced an atmospheric river storm, the sort that can bring tons of rain in a short period of time. This is my favorite time of the year along the Pacific coast, when these big storms can produce huge surf, when the cloud-filled skies alternate with clear days, and when the landscape is much more dynamic. This photograph does not come from such a time…

It comes from the polar opposite time of year and a very different set of conditions. I made the photograph some years ago on a gentle mid-June evening, a few days before the start of summer. It was just after sunset and the sort of day on which I could stand above the ocean on coastal bluffs and contemplate the quiet and peaceful sunset, looking across the gentle surf toward a distant peninsula muted by hazy atmosphere hinting at fog.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning

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Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning
Desert mountains and morning light spreading across an alluvial fan.

Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert mountains and morning light spreading across an alluvial fan.

This is more or less where I had hoped to be in January, even up until a couple of months ago. At that time, careful travel into lonely places was still a reasonable option, especially since I stop only for gas and would have camped well off the beaten track, barely interacting with anyone at all. But wanting to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, I’m following the guidelines to not travel more than 120 miles from my home, and I’m also not going to play games and try to sneak into the Death Valley backcountry… regardless of how appealing that sounds and of how badly I miss the place right now.

This photograph is one of those that illustrates the advice to look all around while making photographs. Sometimes the thing you came to see isn’t the only thing to attend to. I had come to this spot before dawn to photograph a subject that lies directly behind the camera position of this scene, and had worked on it as the scene transitioned from soft, pre-sunrise light through a somewhat colorful sunrise to light that was becoming more harsh than I desired. So I turned around. Here the backlit atmosphere glowed in the light streaming over the rugged desert hills to the east.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.