Tag Archives: patterns

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

1 Comment
Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall
Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall

Man With Cell Phone, Maroon Wall. San Francisco, California. March 6, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man with a cell phone walks along a San Francisco sidewalk past maroon wall.

For the first time, I went out and did street photography with my two sons in San Francisco during the first weekend in March. It was fun, though I’m not used to shooting street (or much else) with other people, and I think my work habits may have a tendency to drive others slightly crazy. (Sons, thanks for putting up with me! :-) When I shoot street and urban subjects I tend to wander about rather slowly, looking at everything, getting distracted while I stop to shoot something, and then heading off in an unpredictable direction when something else catches my attention!

We took BART to the downtown area of the City and wandered up toward Union Square along with the rest of the horde, finally heading out into some less traveled streets where there weren’t quite so many people. We photographed various back streets and then descended through the fringes of the Tenderloin to end up at the Civic Center.

One irony is that while I am fully digital these days – though I did go with the traditional approach and shoot with only a 50mm prime – both of my sons prefer to shoot film now! There is no explaining some things! :-)

When I shoot street I tend to approach it somewhat as a landscape photographer, first looking for interesting light, patterns, colors, and so forth. At that point I often square up a composition and then look for the right person or people to walk through the scene, and I try to time the exposure to put the figure in an interesting place in the composition. In this case I think it got quite lucky with the colors of the fellow’s clothing against the maroon wall!

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 | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/100 second

keywords: man, person, walking, cell, phone, talking, maroon, yellow, tan, arch, circle, patterns, window, reflection, fire, alarm, parking, meter, sidewalk, manhole, cover, design, gate, door, vent, address, hill, slope, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, downtown, city, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

3 Comments
Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn - Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light above the Buttermilks illumunates Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys under the clouds of an early autumn storm over the Sierra Nevada crest.

This is another of several exposures I made on this beautiful early October morning when I decided to abandon my plans to be at North Lake for dawn after spotting these astonishing clouds over the eastern Sierra as I drove through the Buttermilks on my way up into the Bishop Creek drainage. I drove out on gravel roads into the high desert until I found what looked like an interesting juxtaposition of near hills, mountains beyond, the peaks of the Sierra in the distance, and the clouds that were dropping light snow up higher in the range above.

Needless to say, the light and the cloud forms were constantly changing as I watched this scene. I waited until the closer rocky hills began to pick up a bit of a glow from the sun low in the eastern sky, and then I made a number of exposures as the sun struck lower on the mountains and as the patterns of light and shadow from racing clouds moved across the peaks.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchell

keywords: basin, mountain, mount, humphreys, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, crest, buttermilk, high, desert, owens, valley, trees, rocks, boulders, morning, dawn, light, illuminate, black and white, dramatic, ridge, peak, shadow, storm, clouds, patterns, bishop, california, usa, eastern, slope, escarpment, season, fall, autumn, early, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point

Leave a comment
Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point

Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stratified outcropping catches the morning sun light with eroded earthen patterns in the background – Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

Yet another in my series of explorations of the details of the amazing geology at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park. Here a small outcropping of harder, stratified material remains along the top of a very eroded hill between two gullies with more typically eroded textures extending into the distance in the background – all lit by early morning sunlight.

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

keywords: zabriskie, point, death valley, national park, california, usa, outcropping, strata, stratified, sun, lit, light, rock, earth, eroded, erosion, patterns, folds, shadow, texture, viewpoint, scenic, travel, landscape, geology, morning, nature, stock

Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection

2 Comments
Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection
Cliff wall mirrored on the surface of a rockbound alpine lake in Sequoia National Park, California

Alpine Lake, Mirrored Reflection. Sequoia National Park, California. August 6, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cliff wall mirrored on the surface of a rockbound alpine lake in Sequoia National Park, California

I just returned from a 9-day trans-Sierra backpack trip that passed by the lake on the route over Kaweah Gap as we travelled from Crescent Meadow on the west side of the Sierra to Whitney Portal on the east side. The lake is near the top of the approx. 2500′ climb from Upper Hamilton Lake to Kaweah Gap, a pass across the Great Western Divide into the area near the Kaweahs. After struggling up the steepest portion of the climb – thankfully done in morning shade – you top a small saddle and there it is in front of you. I remember my first visit 30 years ago – although I had seen the famous Ansel Adams photograph of these cliffs I did not know where they were located… until I topped this rise and saw the actual scene right before me.

Shooting the “classic” lake view is almost embarrassingly easy. Walk up to the edge of the lake on the trail and drop down to some nice rocky spots along the shoreline, take out tripod, aim at opposite cliff (one of the signature features of the location), make photographs. It is my impression that this is one of those places that can be good to shoot a bit later in the day – perhaps around mid-morning as the light begins to spill over the ridge and onto portions of the water, where it can illuminate some very interesting underwater rocks.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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