Tag Archives: reflections

Still Water, Clouds

Still Water, Clouds
A few scattered clouds are reflected in the surface of Mono Lake on a windless day

Still Water, Clouds. Mono Lake, California. September 16, 2016. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A few scattered clouds are reflected in the surface of Mono Lake on a windless day

As I have returned to Mono Lake over the years, my orientation to the place has changed. (I guess that is a sort of general theme with me, now that I think of it — repeated visits to a familiar place over long periods of time are rewarded with a continually evolving knowledge of the place.) First it is just a very big lake. They one usually discovers tufa towers, followed perhaps by birds. My concept of the place has now come to center on quiet immensity, with open sky above, perhaps interrupted by the sounds of birds.

Mono Lake is often a windy place, but at times, especially early in the day, the winds can die down or even stop, and the stillness becomes palpable. On this day I traveled out to a shoreline area I had not visited before, and one that is not particularly popular or well-known. I parked and walked down a slope towards the water, where I found its surface almost still and reflecting the shapes of a few clouds to the north.

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.
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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.

Rain, Fallen Leaves, Reflections

Rain, Fallen Leaves, Reflections
A pedestrian walks post a small garden in the rain near the Tate Modern, London

Rain, Fallen Leaves, Reflections. London, England. August 2, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pedestrian walks post a small garden in the rain near the Tate Modern, London

It may be a bit hard to see in this small version of the photograph, but the walkway, made dark and reflective by light rain, is covered by a universe of small leaves that have fallen from the row of trees that stretches to the right and out of the frame. I was also attracted by the complementary red and green colors of reflections and leaves.

The location is not far from the end of London’s Millennium Bridge and at the entrance to the Tate Modern, where we went to see a wonderful exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings. (And, yes, it did seem slightly strange to be visiting the exhibit of this American painter in a British museum.)


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

Seated People, Dog

Seated People, Dog
Seated people with a white dog in front of Florence shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

Seated People, Dog. Florenze/Firenze, Italy. August 27, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Seated people with a white dog in front of Florence shops on the Ponte Vecchio.

The Ponte Vecchio is a bridge across the Arno River in Florence, and it is covered with buildings, giving it a very different appearance than the typical cross-river bridge. Shops line the bridge and are open during the day, with some staying open into the evening.

It is, of course, a popular tourist spot — and we were tourists! When we walked across the first time it was close to sunset and the place was packed to the point that it was difficult to walk. There was the typical assortment of street artists, musicians, and men hawking cheap souvenirs. The lights were just coming on when I saw this small group of people and their dog sitting on the curb, somehow finding a way to look almost isolated in the midst of the crowd.


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

Storefronts, Reflections

Storefronts, Reflections
Sidewalk shops and window reflections, San Francisco

Storefronts, Reflections. San Francisco, California. May 20. 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sidewalk shops and window reflections, San Francisco

Near the end of May I did one of my San Francisco walking street photography trips, heading up to The City on the train and then following a large loop through downtown San Francisco. San Francisco is a great walking city, and I’m able to cover a lot of ground and see a lot of diverse urban landscape on these walks — from the waterfront to business districts to industrial areas.

I saw a lot of interesting and possibly unexpected things in this little street side vignette. Oddly, there are no people in the photograph — more typically I line up an urban landscape like this one and then wait for subject to enter the frame. The colors, of the structures and of the shadow light, caught my attention — primarily we’re looking at the greenish awnings and the intense reds found in several places, with everything subject to the blue light of the shadows. And, of course, for this photographer it was frosting on the cake to be able to include the words on the awning in this photograph.


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+ | LinkedIn | Email


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