Tag Archives: monochrome

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Look. No Train Horn

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Look. No Train Horn
Sign near a light rail crossing in an old industrial area.

Look. No Train Horn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sign near a light rail crossing in an old industrial area.

These signs are along one of the routes I take on my (nearly) daily urban walks. Sometimes the walks stick to tree-lined residential streets, but some of the routes take me into older areas that are a bit rougher around the edges, many of which feature old businesses and shops. There are still rail lines through some of these areas, though they are rarely used — and some have been closed off or even converted to non-rail uses. Here the local light rail transit system follows the route of the old tracks and crosses near an intersection where I found these signs.

Until a few months ago I frequently encountered the light rail trains at crossings like this one. But this is a Valley Transit Authority (VTA) route, and that is the entity that was the victim of a mass shooting earlier this year that tragically took the lives of a number of employees who work on the light rail system. The system remains shut down and there is so far no word on when it will reopen.

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: People In Landscape, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Hot Shower $5.00

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Hot Shower $5.00
An inviting sign on a door at a trailhead packstation in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Hot Shower $5.00. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An inviting sign on a door at a trailhead packstation in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

I have been a Sierra backpacker for a long time. How long, you ask? A significant number of decades. My first backpacking trip, something I had dreamed about for a few years, was the summer I turned 16. Two buddies and I headed off into the Desolation Wilderness for something like five days. Unsupervised. (I still cannot believe that my parents allowed this.) Both friends had at least some backcountry experience, one with his family and one in the Boy Scouts. But this was all entirely new to me.

Often we think of the peak moments in the backcountry, the astonishing sunrises, climbing to the summit of a peak, and encounter with wildlife, visiting a place to which few others have been. Or perhaps we tell “hero stories” — the time I took a five day pack trip with a broken toe, my first solo (two weeks long), bad weather, getting lost. But the truth is that a lot of the experience is based on some pretty simple pleasures: sitting on a comfortable rock as the day ends, eating that freeze-dried food out of the pot, traveling for days with friends… and that shower at the trailhead when you return from a week or more in the backcountry.

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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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: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Suburban Fence

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Suburban Fence
A weathered fence along an urban trail, San Jose, CA.

Suburban Fence. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A weathered fence along an urban trail, San Jose, CA.

This is another in the occasional series of photographs from the neighborhood, make while on one of my (almost) daily walks. The walks are not primarily about photography, though I always have a camera with me. They are mostly about “stretching my legs” (for perhaps three to eight or more miles) and clearing my mind. Few things allow the mind to wander productively more than walking.

Years ago I discovered that having a camera in hand can alter the way we (or at least I!) see the world around me. Often when I walk I don’t regard the urban landscape with any great focus, but as soon as I think of myself as a photographer and visual opportunist I start to see things that I had not noticed. I distinctly recall a winter walk years ago when I first realized this. I headed out through the same areas that I see every day… and suddenly I saw all kinds of things that I simply had not paid attention to before: the second story of downtown buildings, shadows on walls, old tiles, patterns in the sidewalk, and more. This more recent photograph features a section of fence that I probably pass once or more per week.

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: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature

Redwood Forest Flowers

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Redwood Forest Flowers
“Redwood Forest Flowers” — White flowers growing amongst redwood sorrel in Redwood National Park. (Possibly columbia windflower?)

As I frequently report, I’m fairly weak when it comes to identifying wildflowers. I know a few obvious ones instantly, at least by their common names. (Latin names? Let’s not go there!) But there are many more that simply cannot name. In many cases I “know” the flowers, and I’m familiar with when and where they appear and how they grow. It is the naming that has always challenged me.

All of that is a preface to the experience of photographing these lowers. I know that I’ve seen them before in the redwood forests, deep beneath the shadows of the big trees. In fact, I recognized them from a previous visit when we photographed at this location. But when I wanted to go behind “white flower on forest floor” I had to start searching. I finally came up with “Columbia windflower,” and my family botanist (thanks, Ruth Ann!) confirms that identification. What attracted me was their white blossoms standing above the bed of darker greenery, including some redwood sorrel.

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.

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