Tag Archives: pattern

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves

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Aspen Color - Wall of Leaves
Aspen Color - Wall of Leaves

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A nearly solid wall of brilliant fall aspen leaf color in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is going to be the first in a short series of “frame filled with foliage” photographs that I’ll post. Although I think they work best as prints – and fairly large ones at that – I’d like to share these since they are something a bit different that I’ve been working on.

Sometimes I’m just so impressed by the sheer density and complexity of the foliage that I’m tempted to just point that camera at them and click. It might look like that is what is going on here, but I am also trying (remember, “trying!”) to find some sort of pattern and form in these very complex textures. This photograph was made in a small aspen grove that was essentially at the color peak – only a very small number of partly green leaves remained, yet most of the transformed leaves were still on the tree. If you have chased aspen color, you know how difficult it can be to find the leaves at just this point!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brooklyn Bridge Cables, Lower East Side Buildings

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Brooklyn Bridge Cables, Lower East Side Buildings
Brooklyn Bridge Cables, Lower East Side Buildings

Brooklyn Bridge Cables, Lower East Side Buildings. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Buildings of the lower east side of Manhattan, seen through the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge.

My son kept suggesting a walk across – or at least on to – the Brooklyn Bridge, so when the weather finally cleared up on our last full day in New York City and we found ourselves wandering around Lower Manhattan near the entrance to the pedestrian walkway across the bridge, we really had no choice.

It is hard – perhaps impossible? – to make a truly new photograph of the bridge, at least for this first time photographer of this New York icon. I do have a few frames of the masses of cables ascending to the tower closest to Manhattan, a scene we’ve all seen before, and I probably won’t be able to resist posting at least one of them eventually

I have no idea whether or not a shot like this one is familiar to those who have seen more photos of the bridge than I have, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is a typical view. In any case, I was fascinated by the dense web of cables, the fact that they are much thinner than bridge cables that I’m familiar with, and the appearance of the many buildings along the east short of Manhattan Island both north and south of the bridge.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane

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Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane
Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An airplane crosses a cloud-filled New York City sky above the Standard Hotel at the High Line Park in Chelsea.

This hotel straddling the High Line Elevated Park in New York City presents a striking appearance, especially when the right clouds are reflected in its glass-window surface. We were in the area on a summer evening when the sky was filled with interesting clouds, and by the time we finished walking to and then along the elevated path of the High Line park we had seen it from quite a few angles.

This was my first visit to New York City in a decade, and I have to say that coming to terms with it as a photographic subject is a tall task for someone trying to take in the whole thing for (not quite) the first time. I do a lot of street and urban photography, but usually in places with which I’m familiar – San Francisco is a short train ride from where I live, so I photograph there a lot. For me, it takes some time to get beyond the overwhelming first impressions and settle down and achieve a level of comfort with the place. There were days in New York when, despite being in the midst of tremendous numbers of photographic opportunities, I found it almost impossible to figure out what to shoot. And there were also certain times when “the light came on” and I made a lot of photographs, including this evening.

I need to go back…

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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.

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Commentary, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Standard Hotel and Clouds

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The Standard Hotel and Clouds
The Standard Hotel and Clouds

The Standard Hotel and Clouds. New York, New York. August 18, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The windows of the Standard Hotel reflect clouds and sky above the High Line Park.

We spent a week in New York City in mid-August – our first visit in a decade. I had forgotten a lot about the character of this city, but it all started coming back to me as we drove into Manhattan on a Friday evening and encountered people everywhere, out and about and doing all of the things that one does here. I have many images in my mind from the visit, but one is a sort of combination of massive, tall, and static structures surrounded by the constant motion of vehicles and people.

The next evening we made our way – with the help of our oldest son, who now lives there – down to the High Line Park area, arriving at the beginning of the “golden hour” light on an evening featuring wonderfully textured clouds. The Standard Hotel straddles the High Line – which, for those who may not know, is a narrow elevated park built on the structure of an old elevated railway. Here the cloud-filled sky is reflected in the windows of the hotel.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

(Basic EXIF data is available by “mousing over” large images in blog posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)