Tag Archives: photo

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

Buildings and Sky, San Francisco

October 6, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall downtown buildings and sky in morning light, San Francisco, California.

These buildings are near the intersection of Market and the Embarcadero not far from the waterfront in downtown San Francisco. The fog had just cleared back a bit from this area and the first real light of the day was striking the forms of these tall buildings and setting them off against the very blue morning sky.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, market, street, embarcadero, business, building, architecture, form, shape, structure, shadow, cloud, sky, bue, reflection, window, wall, column, perspective, metropolitan, travel, angles, light, morning, office, stock

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

Vertical Forms and Reflections

October 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Vertical forms of downtown buildings and reflections in windows – San Francisco, California.

On this mid-September morning I wandered up Market Street from the Ferry building just as the fog was beginning to clear back from the waterfront. The light on the downtown buildings was stunning – still relatively low given the early hour, occasionally interrupted by a few lingering clouds, and with a deep blue sky background. Instead of focusing on the street scene – at least for the most part – instead I photographed the angles, colors, and forms of the buildings and the effects of light and reflections on their surfaces.

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.

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keywords: san francisco, california, usa, travel, tourist, scenic, city, urban, downtown, vertical, form, structure, architecture, building, skyscraper, glass, column, shape, reflection, glass, mirror, sky, cloud, travel, abstract, perspective, light, blue, market, street, stock, lines, converge

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

San Francisco Buildings, Morning Light

October 4, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on a maze of buildings in downtown San Francisco, California.

I’ll interrupt the landscape and nature photography for a bit here to post a series of photographs made on a mid-September morning in San Francisco – one of my periodic (very) early morning Caltrain trips up the Peninsula to the The City to shoot on foot in the downtown area.

On this morning I arrived on the 7:02 a.m. train to find – no surprise! – fog along the San Francisco Bay waterfront. I headed along the Embarcadero past familiar subjects including the South Beach Harbor and the Bay Bridge, then turned up Market Street into the main downtown area. The fog was clearing back from the bay and the light was wonderful – a mixture of foggy gray, early morning blue, and intermittent shadows from clouds near the edge of the clearing fog bank.

There is a huge variety of potential subjects in downtown San Francisco on a weekday morning, but I decided to focus on the almost abstract forms on the buildings in this early light.

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Mount Conness, Early Evening Thunderstorms

October 3, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Early evening thunderstorms above Mount Connesss, as seen from near Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, Yosemite National Park, California.

As most of California was heading back home on Labor Day, I was heading to the Sierra Nevada for a late-season four-day pack trip into the Yosemite National Park back-country around the Fletcher Lake/Vogelsang High Sierra Camp area. I got off to a very late start and didn’t get on the trail up Lyell Canyon until nearly 5:00 p.m., so it was dark when I finally arrived at the Ireland Lake trail junction to make camp and fix dinner – and, a bit later, to be serenaded by coyotes.

The next day I headed up the Ireland Lake trail to spend a night at Evelyn Lake and then move the following day to Fletcher Lake, the location of the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. The situation at Fletcher Lake exemplifies much of what I love about late-season Sierra backpacking. During the high season this is a very popular place: a few dozen people stay at the facilities of the high sierra camp and many more backpackers camp nearby – it can be a very busy place! But the high sierra camp shuts down after Labor Day (they were dismantling the tents when I arrived) and the number of backpackers drops dramatically.

But for a photographer, many other special things happen at this time of year as well. While some may lament the passing of the rich green plants of these meadows, I love the golden color that lasts for a few weeks between early September and the coming of the first snow only weeks later – and the spots of green you do find are even more special. The weather cools and there is something special about the light that I can’t quite define – perhaps it is the lower angle of the sun or maybe some change in the weather conditions.

This photograph was made in the early evening on the day I arrived at Fletcher Lake. My usual practice is to set up camp and have an early dinner and then grab the camera equipment as “golden hour” approaches and go to work. I had been focused on the camp chores and hadn’t noticed these clouds until I picked up the camera! Here two large cells, perhaps beginning to dissipate as the day ended, were towering above Mount Conness and the Sierra crest.

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.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.