Two photos today! Photographer Rebecca Jackrel (Adventures Through the Lens) points out that today is the birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was opened on this date in 1937. Since I have a few photos of this icon lying around I thought I’d repost one of them to celebrate. (More information about this image in the original post)
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.
Since all of the cycling photographs might confuse some site visitors who are more familiar with my natural and urban landscapes, night photography, and so forth… a bit of explanation.
I used to be a very active cyclist. Although I never raced myself, I trained with folks who did, and I was a very serious cyclist. I put in multiple 10,000+ mile years during that period.
So the cycling stuff is “in my blood,” so to speak, and when the Amgen Tour of California comes to northern California each year I’m there to photograph as much of it as I can. I photographed it since the first year when it began with the time trial stage to the top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.
This year my opportunities to photograph the event are more limited, and it is likely that I’ll only be able to shoot the first stage – from which the current images are taken. Rather than posting a whole batch of photographs at once, I prefer to share them one at a time. So over the next week or so expect to see a lot of bicycle racing photographs here!
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.
Black and white vertical format photograph of evening on the salt flats of Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California.
Yes, I’m still mining the Death Valley photographs from my late March trip. And there are more to come… :-)
This photograph was made in evening light on the salt flats of Badwater Basin, not far from the “official” Badwater area – but far enough away that there were only a couple other photographers out here enjoying the solitude and the beautiful evening light. A few weeks earlier this area had been flooded by unusually heavy rains in Death Valley. From all appearances (and from photographic evidence that I’ve seen) the photographers who were first on the scene had to do a bit of wading to get out onto the salt flats. Some of them were rewarded for their efforts with wonderful and unusual images, including reflections of the Panamint range in the circular pools between the polygons of raised salt.
By the time I arrived the area was no longer flooded, though it was clear that the playa beneath the drying salt crust was still wet. In places some of the water appeared in cracks and in other spots walking on the salt felt a lot like walking on winter pond ice. During the flooding, the usually tall ridges between the salt “polygons” seem to have dissolved. Typically they are perhaps up to a few inches tall and contain large cracks. At the time I arrived, the counter had apparently been set back to zero – and the salt surface was almost completely flat, though it is obvious that the polygon outlines were still visible and beginning to rise a bit. The vertical ridge leading away from the camera position in the lower portion of the frame is a good example.
I went with black and white in this rendition since the sky had not really lit up yet – in other words, color wasn’t necessarily the main feature of the scene. I also liked what I could do with the clouded sky and the distant ridge in black and white.
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.
Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 35mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 second
keywords: salt, flat, polygon, pattern, landscape, nature, geology, hills, mountains, sky, dark, clouds, evening, dusk, sunset, haze, atmosphere, light, shadow, badwater, basin, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, travel, scenic, black and white, monochrome, texture, curve, stock
Fellow California photographer Ivan Makarov has posted an interview with me at his blog. It was a special pleasure to do this with Ivan in that I think there are some real connections between his work and mine. In his introduction he notes that he can recognize my photographs from small thumbnails, even when posted among those of other photographers. It turns out that Ivan also has a characteristic style in his work that I can recognize quickly – and it is a style that I find quite appealing.
Thanks, Ivan!
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.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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