Tag Archives: morning

Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Morning, Caffe Trieste

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Morning, Caffe Trieste
Patrons in line for coffee at Caffe Trieste, San Francisco.

Morning, Caffe Trieste. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patrons in line for coffee at Caffe Trieste, San Francisco.

Last week I spend considerable time in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. I’m a member of Studio Nocturne a group of night photographers (descended from “The Nocturnes”) who have been photographing and exhibiting together for decades. Every fall we do an “open studio” as part of The City’s Artspan Open Studio event. This year we were in the Live Worms Gallery on Grant in North Beach. We’ve been in various locations over the years, and I think this may have been one of the best spots we’ve used — lots of foot traffic, lots of places nearby to eat and drink, great atmosphere. (Terrible parking though!)

Each day I arrived an hour or so before we opened, and on the last day, Sunday, I headed a half block up Grant to this famous espresso shop. You might not know it if you just dropped in on a Sunday morning, like I did, but this is a somewhat historic location in San Francisco. In addition to being a meeting place for all sorts of interesting folks for years, it was the first espresso bar on the West Coast.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Islands, Wilderness Lake

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Islands, Wilderness Lake
Rocky islands with trees at a small wilderness lake in the Yosemite backcountry.

Islands, Wilderness Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocky islands with trees at a small wilderness lake in the Yosemite backcountry.

This photograph is almost a companion to the photograph I shared yesterday — same lake, same morning, similar subject, different trees, and islands instead of a peninsula this time. Once again, though, the trees on the islands and ascending the granite slopes beyond are illuminated by beautiful morning Sierra Nevada back light. To those familiar with the Sierra, this scene likely speaks of many things, but perhaps two in particular. First, is the nature of the forest — different from in many other locations, largely due to its generally more open character. (Some have proposed that the “Range of Light” name may be partially on account of this aspect of the Sierra experience.) Second, and perhaps a bit less obvious at first glance, is the evidence of glaciation. This lake was almost certainly scooped out by those forces, and the dome-like slopes beyond also suggest glacial sculpting.

As I have mentioned as recently as my previous post, I love photographing Sierra subjects — especially trees — in backlight, especially if a there is a bit of haze to produce a sense of distance between foreground and back ground and a bit of “glow” in the atmosphere. This kind of light can extend the hours for photography since it often works even when the early and late golden hour light is not present.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Rocky Peninsula, Wilderness Lake

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Rocky Peninsula, Wilderness Lake
Trees grow on a rocky peninsula extending into a Yosemite wilderness lake.

Rocky Peninsula, Wilderness Lake. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees grow on a rocky peninsula extending into a Yosemite wilderness lake.

By this point it is probably no secret that I’m a fan of almost any subject that gets backlit. That kind of light is high on my list of things I look for when I doing landscape photography, especially away from the golden hours times. When the light shines from behind trees, their needles and leaves can seem to glow and their color becomes more intense. (A few friends refer to this a “G Dan light,” but I know I’m not alone in this fascination with back light.)

I made this photograph at a Yosemite wilderness lake where we were camped for about a half of a week a few years ago. The scene was perhaps a bit less alpine than the terrain that I’m usually attracted to, but the gentle landscape of this spot grew on me as we spent time there and I explored it. At least twice a day, morning and evening, I wandered out to walk around the edges of this lake, becoming acquainted with its features and the various ways that the light changed throughout the day.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Basin, Morning

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Mono Basin, Morning
A view of Mono Lake, Mono Basin, and surrounding peaks from the base of the Sierra Nevada.

Mono Basin, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A view of Mono Lake, Mono Basin, and surrounding peaks from the base of the Sierra Nevada.

This photograph is another long view of Mono Basin and Mono Lake, with Paoha Island centered in the frame. Paoha Island is, like its companion Negit Island, the product of volcanic activity where a long string of volcanic sites intersects the lake. You can find lots of other volcanic cones on this like both north and south of Mono, including the much taller and older Mono Craters just to the south.

When I first came to Mono Lake and photographed it many years ago, I typically tried to get very close to the edge of the lake, for example photographing tufa formations along its edge. But over the years I’ve become more fascinated by the longer views that take in the vast space in and above the Mono Basin. To really see this it helps to find an elevated location, and there are plenty of them to see if you poke around a bit in and around the Basin. This photograph was made near the base of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, and it looks across the lake and beyond to eastern mountains that belong to Nevada’s basin and range terrain.

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.