Tag Archives: los angeles

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California

Building and Los Angeles Sky

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Building and Los Angeles Sky
Southern California sky reflected on the surfaces of a modern tower.

Building and Los Angeles Sky. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Southern California sky reflected on the surfaces of a modern tower.

Although it seems like it should have been an obvious thing, I recall realizing for the first time that the appearance of modern reflective towers like this one comes more from what is not the building than what is. With the exception of a few boundaries and the varying tones of the lighter and darker portions, the whole surface of the building is not-building stuff, in this case the sky and clouds. It is almost as if this massive structure’s appearance is mostly ephemeral and transient.

I do recall the circumstances of this photograph made back in 2013. We had gone to this area of Los Angeles to visit a museum where an exhibit of photographs by a well-known “nature” photographer was underway. In any case we ended up walking a bit, looking for a place to grab a bite to eat, and we passed an area with several buildings with appearances similar to this one.

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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Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory

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Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory
Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Before this trip to the Los Angeles area, where I’ve been many times over the years, I had never actually been to the iconic Griffith Observatory overlooking the LA basin. That should probably embarrass me at least a little bit as a near-native Californian — but, heck, I’ve been to Disneyland! ;-)

We were actually staying much further south, in the Mission Viejo area, but we decided to spend a day farther north in Los Angeles. We (well, OK, I) wanted to visit a particular photography museum, and we had a restaurant in mind for dinner. In the end, we found ourselves with a bit of extra time and someone picked the Observatory as a good place to spend it. I had not idea it was so popular, and when we got there we found huge crowds — perhaps because it was just about sunset, and there is hardly a better place to be at sunset than here. I made this photograph, shooting handheld in the evening light, and was fascinated by the dense crowd of people packed onto the terraces surrounding the building.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Buildings, Venice Beach

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Buildings, Venice Beach
Venice Beach buildings in midday sun

Buildings, Venice Beach. Venice Beach, California. April 1, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Venice Beach buildings in midday sun

Finally. A photograph that is not Death Valley. Don’t worry, there are still more Death Valley photographs, and this one did come from the same trip. On our return from Death Valley we swung through the LA Basin to visit our daughter and son-in-law, replacing natural pleasures with the distinctly urban experiences of Los Angeles. On April 1 we went to Venice Beach to visit the G2 Gallery, where photographer friends exhibit from time to time. (We enjoyed the gallery quite a bit — some lovely photographs by Clyde Butcher and Jack Dykinga were featured that week.)

Out of the gallery and on the street I had an opportunity to play with a new camera, my Fujifilm X-Pro2, which had arrived shortly before we left for Death Valley. The street being the perfect place for such a camera, I pulled it out and made a few photographs. Initially I expected that this would be a color photograph, but as I worked on it in post I began to feel that it had potential in black and white.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Southern California

Hollywood

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Hollywood
The Hollywood sign and antennas

Hollywood. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Hollywood sign and antennas

Yes. That sign. I suppose that everyone (probably) needs a photograph of the thing and, believe it or not, this is my first. There I was. There the sign was. The light was attractive. I photographed it. ;-)

During a four-day visit to Southern California we ended up making a drive up north to central Los Angeles to visit a museum, and since I had never been to the Griffith Observatory before — really! — we decided to correct that. In the late afternoon we headed to Griffith Park with, or so it seemed, about half of the population of the Los Angeles basin. We eventually caught a shuttle and soon found ourselves among the crowd at the observatory. Crowds aside, it is quite a place… and there, off to the right, was the famous sign. As something of an iconophobe, I have to admit that I did not realize that it would be visible from here!

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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