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Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory

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Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory
Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Sunset Watchers, Griffith Observatory. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors to the Griffith Observatory watch the autumn sunset.

Before this trip to the Los Angeles area, where I’ve been many times over the years, I had never actually been to the iconic Griffith Observatory overlooking the LA basin. That should probably embarrass me at least a little bit as a near-native Californian — but, heck, I’ve been to Disneyland! ;-)

We were actually staying much further south, in the Mission Viejo area, but we decided to spend a day farther north in Los Angeles. We (well, OK, I) wanted to visit a particular photography museum, and we had a restaurant in mind for dinner. In the end, we found ourselves with a bit of extra time and someone picked the Observatory as a good place to spend it. I had not idea it was so popular, and when we got there we found huge crowds — perhaps because it was just about sunset, and there is hardly a better place to be at sunset than here. I made this photograph, shooting handheld in the evening light, and was fascinated by the dense crowd of people packed onto the terraces surrounding the building.

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: Southern California

Hollywood

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Hollywood
The Hollywood sign and antennas

Hollywood. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Hollywood sign and antennas

Yes. That sign. I suppose that everyone (probably) needs a photograph of the thing and, believe it or not, this is my first. There I was. There the sign was. The light was attractive. I photographed it. ;-)

During a four-day visit to Southern California we ended up making a drive up north to central Los Angeles to visit a museum, and since I had never been to the Griffith Observatory before — really! — we decided to correct that. In the late afternoon we headed to Griffith Park with, or so it seemed, about half of the population of the Los Angeles basin. We eventually caught a shuttle and soon found ourselves among the crowd at the observatory. Crowds aside, it is quite a place… and there, off to the right, was the famous sign. As something of an iconophobe, I have to admit that I did not realize that it would be visible from here!

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: People, Photographs: Southern California

Observation Deck, Griffith Observatory

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Observation Deck, Griffith Observatory
Visitors to Griffith Observatory overlook Los Angeles twilight.

Observation Deck, Griffith Observatory. Los Angeles, California. November 28, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors to Griffith Observatory overlook Los Angeles twilight.

We were in Southern California over the Thanksgiving holiday, visiting our daughter and son-in-law. On the weekend we decided to head up to Los Angeles for various things, including a visit to the Frans Lanting show at the Annenberg Space for Photography. We finished up there, headed out for food (of course!) and then decided to head to Griffith Park.

We were apparently among approximately 350,000 people with the same idea! I’m not sure what a typical crowd looks like here, but this one was huge. We finally abandoned our rental car well below the observatory and found a shuttle bus that went up the hill. We arrived a bit before sunset and found that hordes were already there. But I can see why — it is a spectacular location. Although I was only carrying my “little camera,” I decided to see what I could come up with. Eventually I photographed the actual sunset, but first I turned the camera towards the people crowded onto the walkways around the observatory and standing in the beautiful light watching the evening develop.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Lick Observatory

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Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory

Lick Observatory. Mount Hamilton, California. December 14, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lick Observatory, on the summit of Mount Hamilton

This could be a very long post, but I’ll try to keep it short. The Lick Observatory, constructed in the 1800s, sits on the highest peak within sight of my home — both the home I grew up in and the one I live it now. When I was young, one of the greatest adventures was a trip up there, especially when it snowed on the 4000’+ summit of Mount Hamilton. Years later, when I was an avid cyclist, I used to ride up to the summit at least once per month, and today I still know the road like the proverbial back of my hand.

I ended up there by accident on this late mid-December afternoon. My day started before dawn out in the Central Valley, where I had gone to photograph migratory birds. For various reasons (including the absence of geese from wildlife area where I ended up) I left the Valley earlier than usual and decided to take the longest and most isolated back-road back to the San Francisco Bay Area — and that is the 75 mile narrow road between Patterson and San Jose. The high point — quite literally — of this drive is the summit of Mount Hamilton, so I stopped there briefly to make a quick visit inside, take in the tremendous panorama of the south San Francisco Bay, and make a few photographs, including this shot of the historic observatory building.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.