Tag Archives: print

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

Glaciated Granite Landscape

October 7, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Looking through evening haze into the depths of a deep canyon of glaciated granite, Yosemite National Park

Near a lake in the Yosemite backcountry where we camped for five nights were many examples of the common Yosemite glacial granite slab terrain, with sparse trees and glacial erratic boulders on top of both broken granite and smooth glacial polish. The highest nearby area of this sort attracted us and we visited it many times in both morning and evening hours.

This area, which featured a couple of low domes separated by a saddle of broken granite, sat near the edge of a very large river canyon that leads away to the west. The photographic possibilities here could keep one busy for many days — even more than the 5 or so days we had to work here. In the evening the light of the setting sun shone up the length of the canyon, causing the atmosphere within to glow and lighting all sorts of domes and ridges within the canyon. Sitting at the edge of this huge open area we also had extensive views of further and higher mountains. On this evening I climbed to the top of one of the domes and pointed my camera down into the depths of this canyon, shooting across the top of a nearby ridge on which scattered trees were still in the last light.

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.

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

Lake, Rocky Shoreline

October 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light and reflections of the rocky shoreline of a subalpine lake surrounded by forest, Yosemite National Park

At first glance a subalpine lake may look much like many other subalpine lakes. And, in fact, these lakes do tend to share some of the same sorts of features if they are in the same terrain and at the same elevation. Along the shoreline trees may march right down to the water’s edge, boulders may interrupt the shoreline and extend into the lake, there may be islands, it is often flat and marshy near the outlet stream, and higher slopes will often rise above the lake.

However, spend time at any such lake and it inevitably begins to reveal its own unique personality. Spend a lot of time at one lake — a period of at least a few days — and things that you overlooked at first become more obvious and may even come to be part of what defines the lake’s character. As soon as we arrived at this lake we all gravitated to the west shore in the early morning, from which we could photograph back across the lake and into the morning light, letting it fringe nearer trees against the backdrop of the shadowed trees on the other side. But further exploration — otherwise known as “wandering slowly around the lake many times” — began to reveal all sorts of possible alignments and juxtapositions. Here the morning light casts shadow patterns beneath the surface of the reflection water, and the near and far rocky areas seem to connect across the lake.

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Textures and Reflections

October 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Detail of a Chicago riverfront building with distorted window reflections

As is the case with a number of the Chicago photographs that I made during our August 2014 visit to the Windy City, this one was made from a boat on the Chicago River. We rarely do “tourist things” when we visit cities, usually preferring to look for more interesting stuff, but everyone we know who had been there recommended the Chicago architecture boat tours, so we gave in and took one. I have to say that it was worth it — the tour combines an intense overview of a lot of downtown Chicago architecture, a lot of background information on the structures and the development of the city, and a unique view that isn’t really available in any other way.

There is almost too much to see on the tour, since Chicago’s downtown is dense with interesting features large and small, and the boats don’t pause to let you gawk! So I photographed a lot, trying to vary my focus between the large and impressive downtown buildings and smaller details down closer to the river. This photograph falls into that second category, and is “about” the shapes and textures of the bit of a more modern building and the very deformed reflections in its windows.

Photographs: Chicago, Photographs: Urban/Street

Chicago Waterfront

October 4, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yachts tied up along the Chicago waterfront near the mouth of the Chicago River

This photograph was made from one of the Chicago architecture tour boats as it paused in the small bay near the mouth of the Chicago river before turning and heading back into the river. This location momentarily provided a bit of distance between my position and the buildings and gave me a clearer shot of the group of them, and the low position on the water emphasize the height of the buildings.

If you like the combination of very new and slightly old architecture found in Chicago — and I do — a view like this one seems to perfectly capture the ideal image of the lake front of this city. Producing a form that reminds me of ascending mountain peaks, each building is part of a progression that culminates in the tallest building whose mass is mostly hidden by those in front.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: print

Glaciated Granite Landscape

Lake, Rocky Shoreline

Textures and Reflections

Chicago Waterfront

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