Tag Archives: north

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

From The Gallery Window

December 17, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A San Francisco street scene viewed from the window of a photography gallery

We came to this place more or less by chance. It was a somewhat lazy day for us — we had attended a concert the night before and stayed overnight near the venue. Since we had another concert coming up on the second evening we decided to not have any serious plans in the morning. We got up late and finally wandered down past City Hall, through a farmers market, and then headed down Market Street. At one point I happened to look across the street and see the sign for “SF Camerawork” above an unlikely looking storefront, so we walked across to take a look, noticed that it was scheduled to open in less than 10 minutes, and decided we would stick around and take a look.

It probably seems odd that I hadn’t ever visited before, especially since this organization has existed in the City for decades, but sometimes odd things happen. In any case, the door finally opened, we climbed the long and marrow stairway, and arrived to find them in the process if installing an upcoming show: Landmark: Yosemite Through The Lens of Contemporary Landscape Photography. Despite the unfinished state of the installation, they allowed us to poke around and see the work that was already hung. They had one of Jerry Uelsmann’s fantastical landscape, several of the Mark Klett & Byron Wolfe juxtapositions of classic photographs collaged with modern photos of the same locations, a few witty Ted Orland pieces, and more. The exhibition space itself is very nice — open and with good light — and at one point I wandered to one of the street-facing windows and took advantage of the upper story location to make a few photographs of the street below.

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant Counter

December 16, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A work counter in a San Francisco restaurant

In early December we took a couple of days off and stayed in San Francisco. Usually we would simply drive there and back or take the train, but we had concerts to attend on two nights in a row and the thought of doing that drive up (in rush hour traffic) and back (at around midnight) twice in a row was enough to persuade us to simply find a place to stay. Of course this meant we had a lot more time to wander around the City with cameras and to more opportunities to grab a meal at some new place. This restaurant is very close to a location where we frequently attend concerts, but it was the first time we tried it. It is a casual place, but that was just right this time.

Typically one might not want to be this close to the food preparation areas (and the entrance to the kitchen) but in a tiny place like this that cannot be avoided. Plus it gave this photographer an opportunity to photograph things that are more interesting — to me anyway! — than the people sitting at nearby tables. (And less likely to get me kicked out than if I had started photographing other diners!) The photograph is also a reminder of how good — and even fun — it can be to always have a small camera along, even when your primary goal isn’t photography.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Morning Cranes, Pond

December 15, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A large flock of cranes, resting in a pond on a foggy morning, prepares to take flight

I made this photograph on a bit of a gray morning. As I drove toward this place the sky was clear, but just before sunrise the typical Central Vally tule fog began to develop. It did not completely sock the area in, but it turned the sky gray and obscured views of distant trees and other subjects before long.

As things come to life in the early morning hours in these wetlands areas, the cranes are often the first birds to take flight in large groups. (Though, unlike geese, whose groups may include thousands of birds, a group of cranes is often fewer than ten.) I was early enough to spot where the cranes were coming from before all of them were gone, and I arrived at this spot to see a large group of them standing in the shallow water, gradually taking off a few at a time. If you watch quietly, the birds seem to be very quiet — but almost without warning some of them will appear to stretch forward a bit, and soon they take to the air.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Trees, Sky

December 14, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful trees arranged around San Joaquin Valley wetlands under autumn sky with clearing fog

When I have written about some of the previous photographs of these San Joaquin Valley areas, where I go to photograph birds in the late fall and winter, I have described the cycle of my earlier mornings in such places: awake hours before sunrise, a two-hour drive in the dark, frequent arrival in thick tule fog, the first sound of birds after I stop my car and get out, the sensations related to photographing in the cold and foggy morning, the first light, sunrise. This photograph comes from a bit later in the morning, closer to the time when the rapidly changing early morning conditions stabilize and things begin to seem more static.

On this morning there had been some of the usual tule fog at daybreak. I photographed in those conditions for the first hour or two, but by 8:00 the fog was mostly gone and all that remained of it was the common Central Valley winter haze. Above that was the huge expanse of sky that I’m often aware of here — sky stretching unbroken from the low hills in the west to the distance Sierra Nevada crest far to the east. By this time the birds were generally much less active and the quick pace of the sunrise hours gave way to the slow, still quality of the midday hours.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: north

From The Gallery Window

Restaurant Counter

Morning Cranes, Pond

Pond, Trees, Sky

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