Tag Archives: park

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Imaginary Landscapes

Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains (Blue)

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Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains (Blue)
“Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains (Blue)” — An imaginary landscape, based on a photograph of desert mountains.

I am sorry to disappoint, but there is no place on this planet that looks like this. This photograph depicts an imaginary scene, produced not by AI but by my own manipulation of a photograph of a desert mountain landscape, transforming it into a scene of impossible peaks and extremely deep valleys. (The source material is from Death Valley, but I doubt that you could locate it in the real world, even if you know the park quite well. Take that as a challenge, if you will. ;-) )

Still, there is something compelling about the image, I think. Perhaps these are the sorts of mountains and valleys we dream of but never quite find. (Some viewers may notice that this subject has appeared here twice. I previously produced a monochromatic version of the subject.)

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Jumbled Rocks and Strata

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Jumbled Rocks and Strata
“Jumbled Rocks and Strata” — Stratified rocks and piles of jumbled boulders line the shoreline of a cove, Point Lobos.

This geology is found along the edges of one of the famous coves at Point Lobos, on the California coast between Monterey and Big Sur. Here deeply stratified rock formations meet the sea, curving and bending as they gradually drop into the cove. The surf continuously erodes the rocks, depositing broken pieces of these formations on the shoreline, along with driftwood and bits of rock from other locations.

I rarely photograph the “all” of this subject. More typically I wander slowly among the rocks and driftwood and other things cast up by the surf, looking for small “intimate landscape” subjects. A close look at this scene may reveal some of the elements of those photographs.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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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: Ocean & Coast

Coastal Layers

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Coastal Layers
“Coastal Layers” — Stratified and eroded rock formations along the California coast at Point Lobos.

All of the other photograph s that I made in this location at Point Lobos turned out to be color images, but I decided that I wanted to use monochrome for this one. There were several reasons. There’s an old “rule” about using monochrome when subject’s colors aren’t its main feature, and that was the case here, at least in this light. In addition, I felt that black and white might better abstract the forms of these eroded coastal rocks.

It is a fascinating formation, partly for what it is and partly for how it has evolved. This layered rock apparently underlies the low headlands here, and the end of the formation has been exposed by ocean erosion. (Below this spot is a cove, while above it is a grassy headland.) As the erosion continues it exposes remarkable patterns in the underlying rock. much of it is a sort of familiar sandstone that has colors similar to those in the American Southwest, but interspersed are layers of pebble-filled conglomerate and, here and there, some surprising bits of color.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Imaginary Landscapes

Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains

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Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains
“Imaginary Landscape: Desert Mountains” — An imaginary landscape, based on a photograph of desert mountains.

The words, “imaginary landscape” are used her to alert viewers to what they are (and are not) seeing. It would be lovely if you encountered an actual landscape that looked like this, but you won’t — this landscape is invented. I began with a “real” image of a range of desert mountains, and from there I deeply modified that original to produce the photographic fantasy that you see here.

The image grew out of something I wrote elsewhere about “honesty” in photographs. The subject is too big to fully deal with here, but one component was that it is troubling to me when photographers tacitly rely on the presumption that viewers will imagine the unbelievable to be real. I have no objections to morphing the “real” into fantastical things — but I am uneasy about relying on viewers’ misinterpretations of what they are seeing. This highly processed image was created to illustrate that idea.

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.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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