Tag Archives: print

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Germany

Heidelberg Castle and Bridge

August 1, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Heidelberg Bridge spans the Neckar River and heads to Old Heidelberg, with the Heidelberg Castle in the hills above.

This may seem odd, but when I travel to a new place I often prefer to not know too much about where I’m going and what I’ll see. One reason for this is that I like to save a few surprises for my arrival at the place itself, and another is that I like to, as much as possible, come to know the place at least partially from my own perspective rather than that of some person who writes about it and tells me what to see and what to think. (There was a time when I was more organized about preparation – perhaps I’ve just sort of “been there and done that” with the very organized approach. Or maybe I’m just getting lazy!) So I arrived in Heidelberg knowing very little about what I would see (or what I should see) and little specific knowledge about the place beyond that which I had picked up from various conversations.

In addition, we were very fortunate to be able to stay with Patty’s brother and sister-in-law, both of whom have lived in Germany for many years. Their home is on a small side street in a portion of the town that is somewhere between very old and modern, and which is on the “other side” of the hill that runs along the Neckar River past the altstadt, or old town. So, knowing almost nothing about what I would see, we set out from their home on a walk, taking part of the Philosophen Weg (“Philosophers Way”) over the intervening hill toward the river and the old town. So my first view of Heidelberg was from a hillside across the Neckar, with the Heidelberg Castle in hills above the town – quite an astonishing and magical way to see the town for the first time! Eventually we made our way to (and past, as we were going out to dinner) this historic Heidelberg bridge that crosses the river to enter the town.

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Photographs: Germany

Bicycles, Heidelberg

July 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bicycles parked against the wall of a building of the Heidelberg University, Germany

There are many things that seem to characterize Heidelberg, especially the old portion of the town: the historic character of the buildings, the crowds of visitors, the university, the very young population, and the huge number of bicycles. A hint: it sees that the last three items in that list are related. It seems like everyone is riding a bicycle, the vast majority of which are similar sorts of very practical bikes, and not so much the racing bikes or mountain bikes that I tend to see in the US. Folks seem to use them to get everywhere – school, work, shopping, out to meet friends. Given this, it isn’t surprising that bicycles are also parked nearly everywhere, sometimes in huge numbers and other times in small groups, as in this photograph. (It took me a few close calls to figure out that there are bike lanes marked on some of the sidewalks in Heidelberg – I never did completely develop instincts for this while I was there.)

This group of the ubiquitous “work” bikes was parked outside a building belonging to Heidelberg University. The bikes themselves often seem interesting to me, but this little scene was also full of the sorts of features and details that always attract my attention – the colorful patterns of the building, along with its geometrical shapes, the cobbled street and sidewalk with rows of stones leading toward the entry door and the curve of the lighter stones separating sidewalk and street.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Devils Cornfield, Morning

July 30, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early morning light on Devils Cornfield and receding ridges, Death Valley National Park

I’m a fan of shooting in the very early morning – what photographer isn’t? – and of shooting directly into the brilliant light of the rising sun, especially when that light shines through an atmosphere containing haze or dust. These conditions appeal to me in a variety of ways. The inclusion of this haze emphasizes the effect of atmospheric recession, and sometimes the most distant elements of the scene can fade to near invisibility as the atmosphere lowers the color saturation and contrast of the scene. Shadows, especially if bit of detail can be retained, can produce dramatic contrasts, and light glancing across the edges of features such as plants can be intensely colorful.

This photograph includes features of a scene that is easily accessible but perhaps one that people don’t often spend much time considering, especially at this time of day. Most photographs of the area that I see are made in fairly normal daytime light or perhaps in the warm and clear light of the evening golden hour. Here I found a slightly elevated camera position and aimed across the tops of clumps of grasses, a small nearby hill, and a succession of higher and more distant ridges leading away toward the mountains along the east side of the valley.

Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Nature

Eisriesenwelt Trail, Alps

July 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

Hikers descend the trail from the ice caves of Eisriesenwelt above the town of Werfen, Austria

Over a period of three weeks, our July 2013 visit to Europe took us to parts of Germany and Austria, and to London before that. The London portion of the trip was almost wholly and urban experience, but the time in Germany (with side trips into Austria) was quite a bit more varied. One significant difference is that while we hit our share of tourist areas, that’s not all we did since a) we were visiting relatives who are long-time residents of Germany and b) we traveled, as we often do, without a specific advance plan about what we would visit – at least beyond our fixed plan to stay in certain places on certain dates. Perhaps for this reason, and because I travel as a photographer as much as a tourist, the photographs from this trip may seem a bit eclectic and will cover a wide range of subjects.

This photograph was made at a popular tourist attraction not far from Salzburg and above town of Werfen, the Eisriesenwelt, also known as the Eisriesenwelt Ice Cave. There is a lot to say about this place – too much for this post – but I’ll give a bit of background. The cave is located far up the mountainside – more of a cliff, actually – above the town. The popular tour visits amazing underground ice formations near the mouth of the cave, though I understand that the cave system goes much farther back into the mountains. After driving up from Werfen, you walk uphill a short distance to a ski-lift style cable car system that takes you up the steep face almost to the cave… but you still have an additional uphill walk from there to the cave itself. (This being Europe, though, you can stop at the parking lot, the lower end of the tram, the upper end of the tram, and the same places going back down to sit, have a bite to eat, and drink a beer!) The trail between the upper tram station and the entrance to the cave is quite something. It traverses terrain that would scare the life out of people not used to very high and very exposed places – though a very civilized path has been built along the edge of the void, covered in some places for protection from rockfall. In this photograph, a section of the trail winds around a promontory with the deep Salzach Valley and Alpine ridges beyond.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: print

Heidelberg Castle and Bridge

Bicycles, Heidelberg

Devils Cornfield, Morning

Eisriesenwelt Trail, Alps

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