Tag Archives: reflections

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Reflections, Merced River

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Autumn Reflections, Merced River
“Autumn Reflections, Merced River” — Colors and shapes of autumn branches and leaves reflected in the surface of the Merced River, Yosemite Valley.

Some years back, as is my annual tradition, I was in Yosemite Valley in autumn to photograph fall color and other aspects of the seasonal change. To be honest, I mostly avoid the Valley during the summer time. It is a spectacular place any time of year, but I’ll happily avoid the oppressive crowds and overly-hot weather and visit during the other three seasons.

I distinctly recall the circumstances of this photograph. It was morning, and there had been some light early snow. The sun was coming out in the morning, the temperature warmed, and the melting snow was dropping from every tree. As I walked across a bridge on my way to a different subject I happened to look down and see the patterns created as the droplets fell into the Merced River, creating expanding and overlapping rings. I was entranced. I stopped and set up, forgetting about my original goal, and focused on this subject instead.

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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: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Spring in the Urban Forest

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Spring in the Urban Forest
A tree with new spring growth in downtown San Francisco.

Spring in the Urban Forest. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree with new spring growth in downtown San Francisco.

Here is another momentary detour away from the natural world and to the urban landscape, this time in San Francisco. I made the photograph on a spring day when I found branches with new leaves along this highly urban street, a place where it is possible to frame a photograph so that every single element is constructed by humans. But even here, spring cannot be held back.

These metal, concrete, and glass canyons are a landscape just as much as any red rock or granite canyon. It is possible to apply the same ways of seeing (at least to some extent) to both sorts of subjects. One of the features on this scene that always seems remarkable to me is the reflections. The largest area of what you “see” in the photograph does not consist of the actual objects in the frame, but rather of the ephemeral reflections of other objects on their surfaces.

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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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Virtual Surfaces

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Virtual Surfaces
Distorted reflections in the windows of a San Francisco building.

Virtual Surfaces. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Distorted reflections in the windows of a San Francisco building.

Almost every time I photograph in big city (and sometimes small city…) downtowns I end up getting distracted by the things reflected in the windows of tall buildings, and by how they relate to the forms of these architectural structures.

Buildings of certain styles and vintages have exteriors that are largely glass. While these buildings have physical forms and volumes, what we see of them is more a result of what is around them than of their own shapes. I’m intrigued by how little of what we see when we look at such structures is actually the structures themselves — most of what we see is virtual, imaginary, and transitory. In this photograph, all you see of the buildings actual exterior are a few non-reflective areas between windows — some dark horizontal strips and a few lighter vertical panels. Everything else in the image is either inside the building (a few interior lights seen through the windows) or a distorted reflection of the building’s surroundings.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building and Reflections

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Buiolding and Reflections
One Front Street in black and white, San Francisco.

Building and Reflections. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

One Front Street in black and white, San Francisco.

At this point it is probably no secret that I like photographing urban subjects — not just nature — and that the urban landscape is near the top of my list. I’m fascinated by city subjects, from the bustle of people-filled scenes to the almost abstract possibilities found in modern buildings.

This is an often-photographed San Francisco building that towers above pedestrians in the central downtown area. The parallel curved structures extending skyward capture and reflect light in all sorts of interesting ways. Here the reflections of surrounding structures merge with the forms of the building itself.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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