Tag Archives: shadow

Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Shadow

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A Shadow
A shadow falls across a Seattle sidewalk and roll-up door

A Shadow. Seattle, Washington. September 8, ,2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A shadow falls across a Seattle sidewalk and roll-up door

In early September I had the opportunity to spend several days in the Seattle area. I was actually there on a sort of business — not photography related — but I did have enough spare time that I could do some photography, too. It turned out that I had two opportunities. On nearly the last time of the trip I managed the long drive to the North Cascades, where I photographed in the Mount Shuksan and Artist Point area for an afternoon. Before that I managed to head to downtown Seattle for a bout of street photography. This photograph comes from that visit.

When I do street photography I work in ways that are both related to my landscape photography and also different. In both cases I tend to only select general subjects ahead of time, preferring to head out and explore and see what I can find. In both cases I am looking not just for “depictions” of the subjects, but also for bits of visually interesting material that might stand on their own outside of the specific location context. Of course, I use different equipment — for street I leave the tripod behind and I work with a small camera, typically using one or two small prime lenses. As I walk, often slowly, I am attentive to what is around me. I am discrete with the camera, only lifting it in front of me when I make a photograph. I often spot something, make the photograph, and move on quickly. (Not always, though. Some subjects demand more patience or are worth a careful exploration.) I may photograph people, architecture, or fragments of the scene. This is one of those fragments, an odd shadow falling across the slightly warped geometry of the metal roll-up door, and offset by the tilting sidewalk below.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Granite Ridge, Light And Shadow

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Granite Ridge, Light And Shadow
Early morning light illuminates a ridge in glaciated granite terrain

Granite Ridge, Light And Shadow. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light illuminates a ridge in glaciated granite terrain

I camped outside the park on this visit to the Sierra, and before dawn I was on the road and over Tioga Pass, heading toward various potential photographic subjects back along Tioga Pass Road. (I often end up camping over the pass on the east side of the park — this time it was because no campgrounds were yet open along the entirety of Tioga Pass Road due to the heavy winter snowfall and delays in clearing the roadway.) I wasn’t positive where I would photograph, but I knew that I’d find light if I looked.

After stopping to photograph a few other subjects I ended up all the way past Tenaya Lake, and I stopped at a well-known overlook. My initial idea was to photograph back-lit trees on ridges to the east, so I went to work on that subject first. As I finished I noticed that the sun was high enough that it was beginning to strike some of the high points on the large previously shaded granite slopes nearby. Here the first light has stretched across the length of a rib of rock, and in the shadows you can see the shapes of trees on the ridge over which the sunlight was streaming.

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Inside The Oculus

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Inside The Oculus
Play of midday light and shadows on the walls of the Oculus, SFMOMA

Inside The Oculus. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. July 13, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Play of midday light and shadows on the walls of the Oculus, SFMOMA

This week we made a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) to see and hear the Soundtracks exhibit, which presents objects and installations of sonic art of various sorts. To be honest, I wasn’t that hopeful about this exhibit — I’ve often found that many visual artist’s ideas about sound art can be naive and banal in too many cases. However, the exhibit was (is, and you should go) excellent, with a wide variety of work that is interesting in a range of ways.

In any case, virtually every visit to this museum is also an excuse to make at least a few photographs, often of the architecture of the place. The central “Oculus” structure (which housed one of the sonic art pieces, too) is interesting to me as much for the play of light and shadows on its curved walls as it is for its own architectural form. I have photographed it many times, but being so close to the summer solstice the shadows took on different qualities than I had seen before. Here shadows from the structure of the upper window fall across a curved wall that is perforated by a pattern of large holes.

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.

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg Altstadt

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Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg Altstadt
Pedestrians walking along a street in the Heidelberg altstadt

Hauptstrasse, Heidelberg Altstadt. Heidelberg, Germany. August 16, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pedestrians walking along a street in the Heidelberg Altstadt

During last summer’s stay in Heidelberg we managed to walk over the hill, up the river, and across the bridge quite a few times to get to the Altstadt. Yes, it is a bit touristy, especially on the main street, but it is also a wonderful place with narrow streets and old buildings and lots of people.

I don’t recall the specific context of this photograph, but it was one of a series made along this street and others nearby in which I waited as people walking into and out of the scene, populating this urban landscape. The low afternoon sun produced long shadows as several people walked up the street and further away from me.

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 | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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