Tag Archives: light

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ponte De Le Bande, Evening

Image October 6, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This photograph comes from an evening walk in Venice back in August. Looking back on it, I’m still surprised that I managed to find a break in the usual stream of humanity across bridges like this one. It was evening, and things do quiet down at night, but it isn’t all that late. It is pretty likely that I made the photograph quickly while passing, and I’d be willing to bet that seconds after I made it other people entered the scene.

Dealing with crowds in Venice and similar places — as a photographer or just plain as a visitor — is a complex subject. (Some might simplify it by simply staying away at the worst times of the year, but we did not have that option.) To some extent, it is possible to embrace the intense energy of the masses of people, but that can be both distracting and overwhelming. But late at night or — even better — very early in the morning the crowds melt away to nearly nothing. One early morning in Venice I walked through one of the most crowded locations, and it was almost empty.

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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Domes, Evening

Image October 3, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light on Lembert Done, Yosemite National Park.

During the last week of summer I finally managed to get up into the Sierra Nevada high country for the first time this season. (As you may know, we were traveling outside the US for most of the summer.) It was great to be back “home” in the Sierra — though the weather conditions were a bit… “interesting.” I encountered thunder and lightning, wind, rain, and even snow! Despite (or perhaps because of?) that weather, I managed to make this photograph of late light on some familiar Tuolumne Meadows during a brief clearing before sunset.

Folks who know Tuolumne Meadows will probably recognize at least a few things in this photograph. A bit of the meadow is, of course, visible in the foreground, just below the trees in the sunlight. The main geologic feature is Lembert Dome, which dominates the local view here, and to its left is its partner, Dog Dome. In the distance over the right shoulder of Lembert Dome is Mount Dana, the second-tallest peak in Yosemite, with its summit covered by clouds.

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: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Horse Stencil, Walls

Image October 2, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Some years back, in the pre-pandemic era, we spent a bit more than a week in Tuscany. It was quite a trip — we mostly stayed with and traveled with family. We spent a week in the Chianti hills at a villa where our oldest son and our daughter-in-law exchanged wedding vows. We also managed to very briefly visit Florence (barely more than one day) and Siena (literally a few hours). Needless to say, that was only enough to make us want to return for longer visits — which we did this summer.

This time we had three nights in Siena, where we stayed in a little place just minutes from the Piazza del Campo, the famous central plaza. If you have been following along, by now you know that our mode of travel is a bit different. We do see some of the Big Sights (and Sites), but we also spend a lot of time just walking and wandering and getting the feel for the place. As a result, we sometimes end up with photographs of small things that you might miss on a more hurried visit — like this little stencil of a horse near the meeting of two walls along a Siena walkway.

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Photographs: Nature

Desert Lake, Island and Mountains

Image September 30, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Desert Lake, Island and Montains — Distant desert mountains stand in morning light beyond Mono Lake and Paoha Island.

Distant desert mountains stand in morning light beyond Mono Lake and Paoha Island.

Mono Lake is known for a few particular things: the picturesque tufa towers along its shoreline and its extremely salty water. (It is landlocked, so all water — except that stolen by LA — leaves the lake by means of evaporation.) But other things that characterize the Mono Basin for me, too. One is the surprising juxtaposition of essentially high desert and the vast surface of this lake. Another is the huge expanse of sky. And at times, the area can be as still and silent as almost any place I’ve been.

This time I went in the morning, primarily to visit two places. One, seen in some other photographs that I’ll share from this visit, is an old ponderosa pine forest that was consumed by wildfire. The other is the spot in this photograph, on a ridge along a roadway, where I can look across hills and the periphery of a volcanic crater toward the lake, its own volcanic islands, and desert mountains in the far distance.