Tag Archives: organ

Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sandstone Formations, First Light

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Sandstone Formations, First Light
“Sandstone Formations, First Light” — Sandstone towers and walls in first light, Arches National Park.

I made this photograph from an “official” viewpoint…. that is named for an entirely different view that lies behind my camera position. There is something interesting in that other direction, but this tableau of sandstone towers and walls, near and far, seems more compelling to me, especially very early in the morning when the rising sun illuminates them. I made this photograph just before actual sunrise, when the earth’s shadow is visible in the distant sky.

My feelings about Arches National Park are complicated. When we drove into the park in the morning on my very first visit, I really had little idea of what I would see. I was dumbfounded by the wild formations — huge sandstone walls, tall towers, rocks perched in improbable places, long views. It is definitely worth a visit or two, but be aware that it is a heavily impacted place. Its beauty is part of the reason, but it also lies just outside the town of Moab, Utah, making it (perhaps too) accessible.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral

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Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral
“Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral” — The pipe organ at the St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Pipe organs are impressive in many ways. The sound is remarkable, especially in appropriate acoustical spaces. (It must be quite an experience for the lone musician to make that much sound, at volumes that can compete with full symphony orchestras.) The visual appearance is compelling and somewhat magical. But there’s another aspect that has long impressed me. Back in my college music teaching days, I used to point out to classes that early versions of the organ were entirely mechanical — and that it is just about impossible to imagine a more complex and sophisticated technology from that era. And it was all for a musical instrument!

This set of pipes belongs to the organ at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where we stayed for several days earlier this year. Sometimes we have only the vaguest notions of what we’ll see in the cities we visit — and sometime I’ll explain why that occasionally is a good thing. In that manner we essentially stumbled into St. Giles’ on our first afternoon in Edinburgh and found it entrancing.

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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Events

Performance: Charles Cramer – Photographs and Music

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"Bare Trees, Red Leaves" - Charles Cramer
“Bare Trees, Red Leaves” – Charles Cramer

Many of you are familiar with Charlie Cramer’s beautiful photographs, but this week you have the chance to hear him make beautiful music, too. San Francisco Bay Area residents can join me and quite a few other photographers and musicians for a performance this weekend.

Saturday, January 18
7:30 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
1957 Pruneridge Ave., Santa Clara

The concert features organists Charles Cramer, Mike Cala, and Darryl Parker… and Charlie will talk about his photography and host an exhibit of prints, and more. See you there!

“A camera trained on the organ console will give us a big-screen view of all the organists in action – and a close-up view of all the buttons they have to push! The program includes Cala performing an improvisation accompanying a short silent film and Cramer’s illustrated presentation, _’How I Became a Photographer and Met Ansel Adams.’_ He’ll talk about the many connections between music and photography. Adams started off as a pianist, and Cramer will present some rarely-heard recordings of Adams playing the piano. Also included will be some of Cramer’s photographs. (http://www.charlescramer.com/) You can see more of Cramer’s prints at the reception following the recital.”

(The photograph seen here is Charlie’s “Bare Trees, Red Leaves” – used by permission of the photographer)

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

Autumn Color, Canyon Walls

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Autumn Color, Canyon Walls - Autumn color foliage marches up the lower slopes of Zion Canyon, Utah
Autumn color foliage marches up the lower slopes of Zion Canyon, Utah

Autumn Color, Canyon Walls. Zion National Park, Utah. October 30, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn color foliage marches up the lower slopes of Zion Canyon, Utah

I was in Zion three times during October this year – it is a long story how that happened! On the final occasion, we were passing through the area on our way back to California at the very end of the month, having stayed the night before in Kanab and having a plan to stage the next day’s long return drive from St. George, Utah. The drive between those Kanab and St. George is not all that long, so we figured we would see what Zion might offer up as we passed through. Since we had photographed the high country along the Mount Carmel Highway earlier in the month, and since the fall color was rumored to be starting in Zion Canyon, we decided to head there in the morning. (In the end, we finished up here a bit sooner than we might have, so we ended up driving well past St. George, but that’s a different story…)

The height of the Zion Canyon color typically comes a bit later than this, so we figured that we might not see the very best color – but Zion is sort of like Yosemite in that there is something to see no matter what. After many days of shooting, this was one of those days when energy was at a bit of a low ebb. We started out in the upper end of the canyon, where we found some colorful red maples, but I don’t think any of use were necessarily quite “seeing it” at this point. So we moved down that canyon a bit, looking for whatever might turn up, and hoping for a bit more color that we were seeing. One of the last places we stopped to shoot was in this area from which features such as the Great White Throne and The Organ are visible. Here we were a bit more inspired, since there was a variety of things to see: the Virgin River, the flats along the river in the bottom of the canyon, a decent amount of developing fall color, towering rock walls, and evolving light. As I poked around along the river bottom I saw that some very colorful trees were visible up high along the base of the steepest cliff walls.

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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