Tag Archives: river

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Beneath the Parkway

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Beneath the Parkway
Support structures under the Henry Hudson Parkway, Manhattan.

Beneath the Parkway. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Support structures under the Henry Hudson Parkway, Manhattan.

While things in New York City are not as grim as they were during the height of the pandemic, nor as bad as when we visited during the Omicron surge last winter, things are not yet completely back to normal. A lot better, yes. But when we visited in August the effects were still clear. People were back in the streets, but the crowds weren’t nearly as dense as before. And we still hesitated to go to some of the more crowded places that we enjoyed previously. So, on this afternoon we found ourselves killing time between a couple of planned events, so we took a walk over to and along a section of the Hudson River shoreline.

In this location sidewalks, paths, and stairs can take you down from the city itself of a riverside walkway and park, so we headed on down to join the others out for a walk, a run, or a bike ride. As the path descended it approached the base of this old structure that supports the parkway running along the waterfront. In a world of modern, sweeping and curving reinforced concrete structures, it is fun and interesting to come across older steel structures like this one.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake, Morning Haze

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Lake, Morning Haze
Morning haze glows in a valley beyond the outlet stream of a Sierra Nevada subalpine lake.

Lake, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning haze glows in a valley beyond the outlet stream of a Sierra Nevada subalpine lake.

As a photographer whose roots are in black and white photography — that’s how I started decades ago — the thought of “going monochrome” with photographs is always there, even though the great majority of what I do these days ends up in color. But every so often a photograph just seems like it should be black and white. The reasons are not always completely clear, but often they are images with a strong formal structure and photographs in which the contribution of color might not be the most important thing. I went back and forth on this one quite a bit, eventually putting the color and monochrome renditions side by side on the screen… at which point the choice seemed clear.

This lovely Sierra Nevada lake has an ideally situated outlet stream for morning photography. At the outlet the broad basin holding the lake pinches off between angled canyon walls. Beyond the valley drops toward the rising sun, and the mountains beyond are seen though the luminous morning light. Other photographs I made of this subject included only a bit of the lake and used the wide landscape format. But it seemed to me that including this bit of the near shoreline strengthens the sense that the viewer is looking out and across the water into that light.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mountain Stream

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Mountain Stream
A High Sierra stream cascades past forest and meadows and over boulders after summer rainstorms.

Mountain Stream. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A High Sierra stream cascades past forest and meadows and over boulders after summer rainstorms.

This little “almost-intimate” landscape comes from closer to the midpoint of our August backcountry photography trip. The first few days features some challenging weather, including torrential rains on the first day. That rain flooded a lot of the area and raised this creek by several feet. On that first afternoon as we lay in our tents sheltering from the storm we started to hear a roar beneath the sound of rain and hail — it was the sound of this “little” creek growing to a dangerous torrent.

The tumultuous water was brown with suspended material washed down from the higher mountains, and for days the nearby lake’s water was coffee-colored. But before long the creek began to recede and its water cleared. By the time I made this photograph early one morning the water was low enough that I could safely ford the stream. I was about to do just that on my way to some timberline country when I paused and made this photograph of the creek, still in morning shadows.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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

Sierra Crest, Blue Hour

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Sierra Crest, Blue Hour
Evening lenticular clouds over the Sierra crest and the Tuolumne River.

Sierra Crest, Blue Hour. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Evening lenticular clouds over the Sierra crest and the Tuolumne River.

This is a reinterpretation of an old photograph, one that has long been a favorite but which I’m now looking at differently. Several issues surround the question of whether, when, and how to revise a photograph that you once considered definitive. The most obvious change is the aspect ratio — it formerly used the ubiquitous 4:3 ratio, but now I think it works better with this semi-panoramic presentation. (The old version lost the far right ridge and trees.) I’ve also rethought how I handle the blue tones — when I originally did the photograph I was shy about “going with the blue,” but more recently I’ve embraced it.

All of that background aside, this is a favorite photograph for a bunch of reasons. This was an incredible afternoon and evening of sky and light, and this was one of the final photographs of that day, made in the fading blue hour light. It still astonishes me that perhaps thousands of people were clustered around their campfires in a nearby campground, likely oblivious to this scene, as I stood in solitude along the bank of the river watching the show.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | 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.