Tag Archives: Place

Another Corner, Night

Another Corner, Night
A meeting place between planes of concrete, night

Another Corner, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A meeting place between planes of concrete, night

The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, especially at night, is a visually compelling location with a lot of large eye-catching features. This include the towering ship yard structures near the dry dock, the tower of the old power station, the huge factory buildings, old officers’ housing, and the ships that are sometimes tied up here or in dry dock. It is easy to spend a lot of time photographing these subjects with wonderful results.

On this visit I was, at least initially, less interested in those things. Instead I slowed down and went looking for hidden surprises — textures, pools of light, juxtapositions, color, and quiet places. Before long I found myself in a small area near the front of a dark building where concrete formations were lit by security lights and by the glow from the town of Vallejo across the water, and I stopped here for almost an hour to quietly make quiet photographs.


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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email


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

Trance Entrance

Trance Entrance
Trance Entrance

Trance Entrance. Seattle, Washington. August 14, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sign with multiple potential meanings, Pike Place Market

There are so many possible bad puns that could be made about the sign in this photograph, especially considering the city in which it was made and other things that were going on in town at that time. I’ll refrain.

On a free day during a recent trip to Seattle we decided to wander around downtown Seattle and do mostly street photography. We started out near Pike Place Market, where there are abundant opportunities to find not only the coffee and food we were seeking, but also lots of interesting “Seattlish” photographic opportunities. As we walked past an entrancing entrance to the Market, I looked up to see some wildly colorful flowers (not that you can tell here!) growing along the edge of the roof and partially hanging over the sign.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

New Snow, Forest

New Snow, Forest - New fallen snow covers trees and ground in a Yosemite Valley Forest.

New Snow, Forest. Yosemite Valley, California. March 4, 2006. © Copyright 2006 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

New fallen snow covers trees and ground in a Yosemite Valley Forest.

This is a nearly five year old photograph from a magical early March visit to Yosemite Valley back in 2006. (Perhaps the subject attracts me right now because it contrasts with the current snow-free state of The Valley and much of the Sierra in this strange year of potential drought.) March is an interesting time in low-elevation areas of the Sierra like the Valley – while you could have a nice, sunny early spring-like day you could just as easily encounter a late-season storm, and the latter is what I encountered when I arrived on this morning.

The first thing I photographed when I arrived was the snow-covered Valley as seen from the famous Wawona Tunnel View. That scene is, indeed, a cliché – but sometimes when the conditions are right, as they were on this morning, I’ll head straight to such an iconic place and remind myself just why it is iconic! After finishing up there I headed back into the Valley and I recall that I finally just pulled over, got out of the car, and decided to set out on foot looking for interesting winter scenes in the fresh snow. I can’t even say exactly where this spot was, though I am fairly sure it was more or less along the Merced River somewhere – how’s that for a lack of precision!? But it didn’t really matter, as the subject here was not some specific place but more the sort of morning it was with new snow coating the trees and gentle winter light filtering down through the forest canopy.

Happy New Years and best wishes for a great 2012!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Yosemite Valley, New Snow, Morning - Classic winter view of snow-covered Yosemite Valley scene photographed from Wawona Tunnel View after a late-winter storm.
Yosemite Valley, New Snow, Morning - Classic winter view of snow-covered Yosemite Valley scene photographed from Wawona Tunnel View after a late-winter storm.

Yosemite Valley, New Snow, Morning. Yosemite National Park, California. March 4, 2006. © Copyright 2006. G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Merry Christmas 2011!

It has been a bit of a tradition to post a photograph of Yosemite Valley in snow on Christmas Day – it seems like the Sierra way to send seasons greetings! I hope that you and yours are having a wonderful holiday!

(The photograph was made on the morning after a late-winter snow storm in The Valley back in 2006.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.