Tag Archives: narrow

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon

April 13, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hiker passes beneath a thick natural bridge spanning a narrow Death Valley canyon

With the exception of a couple of very accessible and popular canyons, many Death Valley Canyons are not visited all that much. Even canyons that are a short distance from major iconic locations and roads are often uncrowded. Canyons that are more remote can be wonderfully lonely places, locations to find the solitude that the desert supplies in such abundance. They are magical places though, to be honest, if you have experienced the red rock sandstone canyons of the Southwest, many of the canyons of Death Valley are more subtle. The canyons are also an undeniable reminder of the tremendous role of water in forming this landscape, odd as that may seem in what is now a desert.

While many Death Valley sights are arguably at their best during or near the golden hour period around dawn and sunset, the canyons can be good a bit later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon. In fact, too close to the sunset/sunrise times and the canyons can be quite dark — perhaps too dark for most photography. But when the sun is a bit higher in the sky the light can strike upper canyon walls and bounce and diffuse down into canyon depths. This light can be soft, gentle, and take on the colors of the canyon rocks. You can see some of that light on the massive bridge that crosses this canyon, and if you look closely you may see a small hiker providing a sense of scale.

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Rain

May 5, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man with an umbrella walks down a rainy London street

Our travel too London was a bit “complicated” this time. We started in New York City, where we had been for nearly a week, and then left for Washington DC, from which our international flight was to depart. (Don’t ask…) Our connecting flight from NYC to Washington was delayed by thunderstorms along the eastern seaboard, and by the time we arrived in DC late that night, our overnight London flight had already departed. We ended up in a (rather nice) nearby hotel, so that we could return to the airport very early for an alternative flight. This flight was on time and we arrived at Heathrow just after sunset and made our way to our hotel in downtown London. We emerged from a tube station… in the dark… in the rain… with cell phones the didn’t work… and not quite sure where our hotel was. Finally we found it, grabbed something to eat and, exhausted, simply went to sleep.

The next morning we started to actually feel like we were in London again, and we went out for a random walk in light rain, ending up on this very narrow street heading toward the Thames. The photography gods must have wanted to reward me for the difficult previous day, and they sent this man in a dark suit and carrying an umbrella down the glistening cobblestone street ahead of us.

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

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

Hotel, Narrow Street

February 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Out for an afternoon walk on our last full day in Florence, Italy on this visit, we kept walking as night arrived. We only had a few days here at the end of a long trip, so we were trying to make the most of a short stay. Our hotel was in the old section of the Florence, so we could walk out the front door onto one of the very narrow old streets and head off in any direction and find interesting things.

At this point, nearly a half-year later, I can’t remember precisely where I made this photograph, though it may have been roughly in the neighborhood between our hotel and Duomo. There were a lot of people out walking on this warm evening, and many of my other photographs of this street included pedestrians and cyclists, but I think I ended up liking this deserted view with the street winding past the backwards “hotel” sign and then curving out of view.

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.

Photographs: England, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Colchester Billiards & Snooker Club

December 18, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few people stand outside the Colchester Billiards and Snooker Club along a narrow curving street

During our lengthy travels (five weeks on the road!) this past summer we spent a bit more than a week in London. While most of our plans were in London, we decided to get out into the country at least once on this trip. So, more or less on a whim, we decided to take the train to the town of Colchester after reading a brief entry about it on some website or similar. (In some ways we are fans of injecting a bit of randomness into our trip planning — we often discover interesting things that way.)

Colchester is a smallish town at more or less the end of a spur railroad line. It obviously attracts a certain number of tourists, perhaps day trippers from London, since it has a number of shops and places to eat and so forth. It also has a few historic structures including a castle (of course!) and a very old church. On the other hand, it also features some mundane things — we saw a lot of hearing aid shops! Up this narrow, curving street I spotted an interesting spot of color in the green building, along with a few people populating the tables in front of the local Billiards and Snooker Club.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: narrow

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon

London Rain

Hotel, Narrow Street

Colchester Billiards & Snooker Club

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