Tag Archives: red

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Couple

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Walking Couple, Montpellier
“Walking Couple” — A couple walks up a narrow, curving street in Montpellier, France.

As the end of our December visit to Montpellier approached, we took a walk through some areas that we had missed the previous days — a walk that took us to the train station, then through a sort of light industrial area, and finally back up into the old central city. Here the streets are often very narrow and lined the tall buildings — and not much light penetrates all the way to the street level.

I grabbed this shot of a couple pushing a stroller up this narrow, curving street. In addition to the usual appeal of the street designed for walking rather than driving, the way the street curved and the increased glow of light at the curve attracted my attention. The unusual pattern of the paving also directs the eye toward the curve and, in this case, the two people.

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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

Organic Landscape

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Organic Landscape, Death Valley
“Organic Landscape” — Erosion patterns in a desert landscape, Death Valley.

Believe it or not, I am getting to the end of the photographs I made on this year’s winter visit to Death Valley National Park. I go every year during the cool months, sometimes more than once. When I returned at the end ofFebruary I wasn’t sure if I had gotten many keepers, but since then I have managed to find more than a few. This is a typical situation — I often don’t immediately see the potential in image files, and it takes a while to get to know them.

This photograph includes a small section with details of a portion of Death Valley “badlands” terrain. I photographed it in the early morning, before the direct sunlight arrived. The soft light and the curving shapes remind me of forms we see in living things, hence the “organic” title.

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Desert, Photographs: England, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Base of the Red Cliffs

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Base of the Red Cliffs. Death Valley
“Base of the Red Cliffs” — Gullies, folds, strata, and morning shadows at the base of the Red Cliffs.

The title says “Red Cliffs,” but you might be thinking, “They don’t look very red to me!” In more neutral light the formations in the upper part of the photograph, and even more so the formations above the margins of the photograph, do have the familiar red rock quality — though it would be fair to say that they are as much brown as red. But in this stark early morning light, just after sunrise, the colors are warmed so much that they are more yellow or orange.

In many ways the geology of Death Valley produces a blank canvas for photographers who want to work with varied light. For the most part, Death Valley’s colors are subtle. The lighter portions of the formations in this photograph are a sort of muted tan in midday light. But as with so many other subjects here, this muted, neutral quality allows them to pick up the colors of sunrise/sunset, twilight, colorful clouds, and reflections from nearby formations.

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

2 responses to “Base of the Red Cliffs”

  1. Charlie Colladay Avatar
    Charlie Colladay

    Hi Dan,
    Here I am, wasting some time on a Sunday afternoon and I came back to this photo of yours. It has not lost any of the intrigue that originally caught my eye and led me to post a comment. Forgive me for diving deeper still into the details of the lighting, that for me, is the strength of this photo. Again, forgive me, but I have to take some issue with a comment of your’s re: the light falling on the foreground.

    You say…”The foreground light is coming from behind and above my camera position — a combination of more reflected light and light from the open sky.”
    I’ll accept that open sky is supplying some over all fill light, but it is much weaker than the main, semi-hard light coming from the left. The evidence of this can be seen in the delineation of the vertical striations on the rock face at the left side of the frame. Each individual striation has a highlight at its peak then a shadow in the depression to the right, in a repeating pattern. Whatever the source of illumination, the bulk of its directional quality can’t be coming from above and behind the camera position. That would produce a much flatter light than what is seen here. The result then would be the foreground rock’s striations being less textural, less visible, more boring without the contrast of the highlight/shadow repeating pattern.

    On that same foreground rock, the upper left and the lower right (the ankle and the toes of the “giant’s foot”) are both darker and flatter, the result of being lit only by the open sky, providing an omnidirectional, flatter and lower level of illumination.

    The overall, bottom line still exists…I love this shot! The above details are just an explanation of why it works so well for me. Thank you, Dan!

    Reply
    1. G Dan Mitchell Avatar
      G Dan Mitchell

      Charlie,

      Thanks for taking the time to write a long post on this photograph. But I must admit that I’m a bit confused by your comment.

      You wrote:

      ”You say…”The foreground light is coming from behind and above my camera position — a combination of more reflected light and light from the open sky.”

      But when I look at the text I wrote to accompany this photograph, in the post you replied to, I do not see that I wrote anything like that there. I wonder if you were looking at a different photograph than the one you commented on?

      In the photograph on this page — “Base of the Red Cliffs” — the sun is definitively behind and above my camera position. It is not straight behind me, but is coming from a slight angle over my right shoulder, which is why the shadows stretch towards the left.

      Let me know if you can figure out why your comment doesn’t seem align with this photograph or its descriptive text.

      Dan

      Reply

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: France, Photographs: People, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman in Red Coat

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Woman in Red Coat, Paris
“Woman in Red Coat” — A woman in a red coat sits on steps outside a Paris building.

This is another of the “grab shots” that I often come away with when I’m doing street photography. Here things appear and disappear quickly, and it is often more a matter of grab-that-shot than careful and slow consideration of the subject. Here I simply spotted this women on the steps and wearing the striking red coat as we walked past.

It can sometimes be hard to articulate precisely what I see in a photograph that I make. Here, I think that the color of the woman’s red coat is pretty important, as it stands out against the cooler colors in the rest of the scene, especially the color blue. I also was attracted to the somewhat melancholy feeling of the woman sitting alone on the steps in front of the badly weathered doorway. Form is also important, and here the mirrored shapes of the planter boxes create a kind of background rhythm.

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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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