Tag Archives: narrow

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sandstone and Canyon Mud

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Sandstone and Canyon Mud
Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

Sandstone and Canyon Mud. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

For various reasons I found myself looking back into my archives of older photographs this week. In one case someone asked about a particular subject and I thought that I could find the answer in the form of a photograph. In another I wanted to use an older image to illustrate a point. Sometimes when I go back to the old raw image files one thing leads to another and I’m off on an exploration of forgotten work. And, quite often, as I do this I “rediscover” photographs that I had originally left behind for one reason or another.

This week’s dive into the past took me back about four years to a wonderful trip to the Southwest. I had several weeks to wander. I started in the Kanab area, worked my way up to Capitol Reef to meet a photographer friend, then joined with a group of photographer/friends to spend several days camping and photographing in a remote area. I emerged from that backcountry trip to spend a night in a wonderful lodge in Boulder — what a shock that was! — and then headed west to join my family in the Zion area. I made this photograph early on the trip. I decided to explore a new area which I knew to hold some well-known features. I drove into the area, found a place to park at a likely looking trailhead, shouldered my pack and headed into a large wash, eventually entering a section of beautiful slot canyon terrain, with much from recent rains still covering parts of the canyon floor.

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: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Doorway, Heidelberg

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Doorway, Heidelberg
A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

Doorway, Heidelberg. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

To the extent that a photograph can be “about” things — I tend to think that a photograph “is” a thing — this one is perhaps about my obsession with geometries, about light, and about the door, with its graffiti, and what that might tell us about the door and how people here treat this “street art.” And by “about” I don’t necessarily mean that it tells us about these things — more that it may be about questions raised by such things.

The doorway is on a back street in the old part of Heidelberg, where we wandered on an August day earlier this year. These colors and this sort of paint and decoration seem fairly characteristic of this area. As we walked, the left side of the street was in shadow and the right was struck obliquely by sunlight that was somewhat softened by hazy cloudiness. Without that filtering the light would likely have been almost to stark for the photograph. Here I notice, as I did with an earlier photograph from Amsterdam, that there seem to be some “rules” constraining the application of the graffiti. It is on the door but not, for the most part, on the walls. Oddly, it all seems to be in black or other very dark colors. (I actually wonder if it was created by the people who live/work in this building.)

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Krämergasse und Ingrimstrasse

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Krämergasse und Ingrimstrasse
Corner of Krämergasse and Ingrimstrasse, Heidelberg

Krämergasse und Ingrimstrasse. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Corner of Krämergasse and Ingrimstrasse, Heidelberg

I have walked this street in Heidelberg a few times during three visits in the past few years. Sometimes it is filled with people (and bicycles), but it was very quiet on this day when we used it partly as a way to bypass the busy main street, which was crowded with other visitors. On the corner at the left you can see the sign for a restaurant where we enjoyed a very fine meal on my birthday a few years ago.

There are several things that I like about this simple scene. The streets have a certain neatness and orderliness that seems northern European to me. Not all German cities that I’ve seen look like this — and even parts of Heidelberg don’t — but it is a “type” of street. The light was beautiful, too — coming across the tops of the buildings on the left side of the street, striking the faces of the buildings on the right, but softened a bit by thin clouds. And, at least to my eyes, those bicycles seem to be peeking out from behind the corners and they seem like the only things inhabiting this empty street.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Woman, Intersection

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Walking Woman, Intersection
A woman walks past the intersection of two narrow streets in Le Marais, Paris

Walking Woman, Intersection. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past the intersection of two narrow streets in Le Marais, Paris

This photograph has many of the features that I often look for in street photography. There is a figure, and the figure is in motion, quickly transiting the scene and providing only a very brief interval to make a photograph. In this case there is only one figure, and by some miracle other people aren’t “cluttering” the composition. The buildings are tall and the streets are narrow, so all of the light is reflected down from above, bouncing back and forth between the buildings to produce a soft effect. (The closest thing to this may be the canyon light of America’s Southwest.) There are interesting little architectural touches that may not be obvious until you spend a bit of time with the image — the lamp at upper left, a bit of graffiti on a wall, etc.

I made the photograph in the Le Marais section of Paris, where older buildings and their narrow streets are preserved — they were not knocked down during earlier modernization projects in the city. It is also an area that is (largely) devoid of big commercial signs like those found on bigger and busier streets. There are signs, but they are often quiet and unobtrusive.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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