Tag Archives: pattern

Photographs: Nature

Green Stems

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Green Stems
Green stems of new bulbs crowd together.

Green Stems. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

Green stems of new bulbs crowd together.

Recently I read an article about painter Richard Diebenkorn, whose work I have admired for years. The reviewer was commenting on the relationship between the depiction of the “real” landscape and seeing the subject as something else entirely. He commented, more or less, that these paintings of real subjects aspire to abstraction. That’s an idea that I can relate to — and I know that I’m not the only photographer who thinks this way.

I made this photograph during a morning visit to a Bay Area garden, where we had gone to see the first “spring” blooms. (Technically, it was still late winter, but it sure felt like spring that day.) The flowers were beautiful and impressive. But my attention wanders, and I end up photographing a lot of other things, too. These stems caught my attention with their color and form, especially in softer light in the shade of some trees. So I crouched down (very!) low and photographed in such a way that the stems but not the flowers would be in the photograph.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Creosote, Morning Light

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Creosote, Morning Light
A cluster of creosote in sand dunes, backlit by morning sun.

Creosote, Morning Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A cluster of creosote in sand dunes, backlit by morning sun.

As this morning’s light quickly evolved, I had just time to make one photograph of this subject from this camera position. I was photographing almost straight into the sun, which was just above the ridge that creates the shadow in the background. The plant’s mirror image of shadows caught my attention, and it sort of felt like the combination of the plant and its shadow exploded across this bit of dune landscape.

From a photographic perspective, this image is another example of a few semi-technical points I’ve made in some of my recent Death Valley posts. It was made quickly — not at all using the sort of sedate process that some might think of when considering landscape photography. This landscape of dunes and light evolves very quickly at this time of day, and to respond to it I often work quickly, moving rapidly from one subject to the next. It is also a photograph made with a long focal length lens. As I have mentioned, this lets me work a larger area in the dunes more quickly, and it also allows me to limit the scope of the composition.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Angle of Repose

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Angle of Repose
Sand dune patterns, Death Valley National Park.

This “intimate landscape” is a sand dune vignette made in a specific place but which could be found almost anywhere. A close look may reveal some details that desert and sand aficionados may find interesting. The large patterns are typically found on one side of dunes where sand blown over the top of the dune collects below. The smaller “ripples” are a common feature of dunes, too, and these are completely undisturbed since the dunes are somewhat remote. Looking even closer may reveal some tinier patterns and tracks across the face of the sand.

The term “angle of repose” refers to the steepest angle at which a material, such as this sand, might collect without collapsing or sliding downhill. It is also the title of a wonderful Wallace Stegner novel, and that is where I first encountered the term. Fans of the history of the American West, especially the part that came after initial explorations, and especially those who have roots in the west may enjoy the novel as much as I did, with its connections to places and types of people that I know from my own experience.

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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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reflecting Sidewalk

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Reflecting Sidewalk
Brilliant winter sunshine on an urban Manhattan sidewalk.

Reflecting Sidewalk. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brilliant winter sunshine on an urban Manhattan sidewalk.

This photograph comes from an earlier winter visit to New York City back in 2019. Those were the days! Despite the cold (quite severe cold, actually) we bundled up and went out on foot every day to explore and photograph and eat and drink and mingle in the crowds. When we weren’t walking we took the subway almost everywhere. The streets back then — in the before times when “covid” was not part of our vocabulary — were packed with people in the familiar New York style.

Offhand, I do not recall exactly where I made this photograph, though I do recall a bright, sunny morning and being distracted by the bright reflection of light on the sidewalk and by the combinations of lines (from the sidewalk itself and from shadows) and curves as the walkway wound into the distance in a place that was momentarily uncrowded.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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