Tag Archives: historic

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel

Heidelberg Thingstätte

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Heidelberg Thingstätte
An outdoor theater with a history dating to the 1930s in the hills above Heidelberg, Germany.

Heidelberg Thingstätte. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An outdoor theater with a history dating to the 1930s in the hills above Heidelberg, Germany.

This photograph has been sitting on my computer for months as I’ve wondered what the heck to write about it. I’m still not sure of the best way to address what it is or its history, partly due to the fact that my actual knowledge of its background is not that deep and because that background at least seems more than a bit fraught. (You can find a good primer by going to the wikipedia entry and then to the related entry on “Thingspiele.”) Basically, this facility and others like it were created in Germany in the 1930s as an expression of some combination of nationalism and Nazism as I understand it.

It is a strange and sobering experience to come upon such a place, especially if you were, like us, unaware of its existence before you arrived. Aside from films from that era (and modern films that channeled some of the imagery, including Indiana Jones movies) this is outside our experience. As I recall, before we arrived here there may have been some nervous mention of the “Nazi amphitheater,” but I didn’t get it until we walked into the place from the area of the stage and looked up at the gigantic amphitheater. We climbed the stairs, exited at the top, and continued on to a much older architectural relic where we remained as the afternoon turned to evening.

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

Point Sur, December Sky

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Point Sur, December Sky
High clouds, brilliant reflecting light on the water, and fog at Point Sur.

Point Sur, December Sky. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High clouds, brilliant reflecting light on the water, and fog at Point Sur.

There is a lot of “accepted wisdom” about photography that turns out to be not quite true when you stop and consider your actual picture-making experience..Yesterday I was having a conversation with a photographer friend (Hi, Charlie!) about various things, including the way that some photographs don’t quite make sense to us until we return to them long after making the original exposure. If one ideal is to pre-visualize the photograph perfectly (and I do believe in the value of pre-visualizing), then it would seem that being surprised months or years later to find that a forgotten image works is hard to explain. But it happens — quite a lot, actually. One of my ideas about this is that at first we are too invested in what we believe the photograph to be that we are unable to look beyond that and see what it actually is.

All of this is a long way of getting to a point about this photograph. When I first viewed it right after the day I visited the Big Sur coast, I had a hard time with certain aspects of the light and the color and, to a lesser extent, the way it was framed. Originally I settled on a black and white interpretation. (Yes, a neat way of copping out about the color issues!) Recently I went back and looked at it again, and this is the result. I ended up with a slightly different crop, some work to lighten portions of the scene, and some new thinking about color of clouds and sky and about how to handle the bright yet low contrast reflections on the water out near the horizon.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Travel

Vault, Salzburg Cathedral

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Vault, Salzburg Cathedral
The view looking straight upwards at the vault of the Salzburg Cathedral.

Vault, Salzburg Cathedral. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view looking straight upwards at the vault of the Salzburg Cathedral.

As an American — a citizen of a relatively young country — I still am amazed by what you can just sort of wander into in Europe, sometimes without even intending to go to such places. (I have stories, and they range from hilarious to marvelous.) In a way, our visit to the Salzburg Cathedral was a bit like this. We were staying in Bavaria with family for a week, and we arrived and departed by trains in Salzburg. And since we were just over the border, it was a short drive back there to spend some time wandering around.

And wander is more or less how we ended up in this cathedral. We parked and started walking toward the central area of the old city and passed by this Cathedral and, of course, walked in. (Speaking of casual amazements — you can still see where Mozart was baptized in this church.) The photograph looks straight up at the remarkable ceiling of this 400-hundred-year-old church.

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.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer

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Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer
“Railings and Fog, Battery Spencer” — Fog at the historic Battery Spencer, Marin Headlands

There are old forts and batteries all over the West Coast and especially around the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of them have long histories, though we tend to associate them with World War II, the most recent time when the country through they might be put to use. I know of a number of these sites, but I’m most familiar with those in the Marin Headlands, across the Golden Gate to the north of San Francisco. If you have visited a particular and iconic overlook of the famous bridge you have likely been near to this place.

It is one thing to visit these spots on a sunny day when they are overrun with visitors. But if you go early on a cold and foggy morning you may bet a better sense of what it might have been like to be stationed at one of these sites. When I visited on this fogged-in morning, I was attracted by the relationships and angles of the railings.

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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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