Tag Archives: monochrome

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant, Diner, Bicycles

December 16, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man sits at a table at an outdoor restaurant at night, Florence, Italy

Photographing in the streets of Florence, Italy was a joy when we visited this past summer. My only regret is that we were there for such a short time. We spent a week in the hills between Florence and Siena, and we picked up our rental car in Florence before leaving for the hills. (And, yes, driving in Florence is just as much fun as you have heard.) Then we returned to Florence and had parts of three days there before leaving. As I know fully understand, three days was not nearly enough time!

In one way, the streets of Florence seem to have a more uniform look than many American cities. There are few obvious commercial signs and many buildings are roughly the same shade of brown. But the streets are often very narrow and they twist and turn in all kinds of interesting ways, occasionally opening up to large squares or the banks of the Arno River. At night things are even more magical. One moment you might find yourself in the midst of crowds of people, and in another you might be on a deserted side street. This small street, with its beautiful lighting, extended off of one of the large squares, a somewhat busy place, but here there was just one man sitting at this sidewalk cafe.

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

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

It Doesn’t Help And No One Cares

December 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is, obviously, not “the usual” around here, but it seemed worth sharing. We were visiting a sort of art fair during a Thanksgiving visit to Southern California. At first I just looked at the arts and crafts, but having a camera in my hand I, of course, started to look at other things and to look at the event in different ways than most people who attend holiday fairs.

I could probably write an essay about this little photograph, but I’ll keep it short. At this mostly happy event, there was, once I looked more closely, a surprising undercurrent of lonely looking people. The man sitting on the bench in the spot of sunlight, hands in front between his legs and head falling to the side, was certainly not the only one. However, the juxtaposition of this person with another man wearing a shirt with the cynical slogan, ostensibly during a “holiday” event, was jarring.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Water Plants, Reflections

December 8, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Water plants reflected in the surface of a wetland pond

Subjects like these are almost easy to find and almost irresistible to photograph when I’m out chasing wild geese in the California Central Valley wetlands. While the birds are the main subject, or so I tell myself, there is much else to look at — the trees and grasses, the immense sky, the effects of fog and haze, and the patterns and reflections on the surface of the wetland ponds.

This was a very foggy morning, somewhat to my surprise. I always check the weather conditions before heading out here, usually in the hope that there will be at least some fog. But this time there were no indications that it would be anything but sunny and clear, at least not until my pre-departure final weather check, where I found one report of ground fog at a nearby airport. And, sure enough, once I got within a half hour of my destination the fog began to develop, and after my arrival in continued to build. So much of my morning was spent photographing in Central Valley tule fog.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Tufa, Wildfire Smoke, Mono Lake

December 2, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tufa formations, the vast expanse of Mono Lake, and smoke covered desert mountains

This nowhere near the first time I have photographed from this location, though it is the first time I have worked with conditions like these. Quite a bit earlier this morning I began to photograph before dawn, quickly realizing that the thickening smoke from a nearby wildfire was blanketing Mono Basin and creating atmospheric effects ranging from very dark sky, to clouds illuminated from behind, to drifting layers. After photographing near the lake I headed to a higher elevation area to the north, photographed there, and then headed back down toward Mono Lake.

As I descended I soon began to enter the fringes of the drifting smoke clouds. Lit from behind, the clouds glowed from within and softened the edges of elements of the landscape. Coming past this spot along the edge of the lake I noticed that some tufa structures formed a near semicircle near the shore, giving a bit of definition to a scene that was otherwise quite soft.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: monochrome

Restaurant, Diner, Bicycles

It Doesn’t Help And No One Cares

Water Plants, Reflections

Tufa, Wildfire Smoke, Mono Lake

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