It may seem odd that someone cast as a “landscape photograph” is also intrigued by rough-edged urban scenes. To some these subjects may seem as radically different from natural landscapes as can be imagined, but I see connections. In fact, I like to think of photographs like this one from Aberdeen, Scotland as “urban landscapes.”
Continue reading Poetry 86
Pipe organs are impressive in many ways. The sound is remarkable, especially in appropriate acoustical spaces. (It must be quite an experience for the lone musician to make that much sound, at volumes that can compete with full symphony orchestras.) The visual appearance is compelling and somewhat magical. But there’s another aspect that has long impressed me. Back in my college music teaching days, I used to point out to classes that early versions of the organ were entirely mechanical — and that it is just about impossible to imagine a more complex and sophisticated technology from that era. And it was all for a musical instrument!
This set of pipes belongs to the organ at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where we stayed for several days earlier this year. Sometimes we have only the vaguest notions of what we’ll see in the cities we visit — and sometime I’ll explain why that occasionally is a good thing. In that manner we essentially stumbled into St. Giles’ on our first afternoon in Edinburgh and found it entrancing.
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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The main focus of our visit to Scotland earlier this year was waking the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness, but that hike only took up about a third of our visit. Before the walk we spent several nights adjusting to jet lag, including stays in Glasgow, Oban, and Fort William. After the walk we had a night in Inverness, and multiple nights in Stirling, Glasgow, and Edinburgh… before a bit more than a week in England. Stirling, where I made this photograph, was our first serious non-hiking destination after the walk.
Like so many old towns — and Stirling is very old — the construction materials often reflect what was available locally. Here many of the old buildings are stone — they have been updated for modern tenants, but their appearance is far from contemporary. I love interesting geometry and color, and this juxtaposition of old stone walls with the blue-painted frames around the doors and windows caught my attention. Looking more closely, you may also see the remnants of older openings that have been closed off.
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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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.
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Near Keane Wonder Mine. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.
Rugged terrarin near the Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley.
One morning on my recent photographic Death Valley trip I headed up the road from the Valley toward Beatty, Nevada. I didn’t plan to actually go to Beatty, butI wanted to learn a bit more about the closure of part of the read between the park and Beatty, to photograph some large-scale vistas, and perhaps to check out the area near the Keane Wonder Mine. I knew that the latter was closed for restoration work, but I thought I might be able to at least get close to it. It turned out that this was not the case, so I decided to photograph the landscape near the mine from a distance.
The mine was one of the more productive in Death Valley during the 1900s. Its works are extensive, and a lot of remnants are still there. (For years it was closed off due to safety concerns, but access was again permitted a few years agp.) Much of the area in the photograph is more or less natural landscape, but a closer look reveals tailings, the remains of a long pipe system that likely supplied water, and some other evidence of mining.
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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
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