Tag Archives: shadow

Greenwich Street Scene

Greenwich Street Scene
Pedestrians walking along a Greenwich street

Greenwich Street Scene. Greenwich, England. August 3, 2016. © Copyright 2016. G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pedestrians walking along a Greenwich street

Our original plans had us in London for a shorter period of time. But plans change, and since it turned out that we were going to make a trip to New York before our UK/Europe trip began, and it didn’t make sense to fly back to California for two days in between, we moved the start of our London visit up by a few days. We found accommodations in central London for the added days, but we had already found less expensive lodging in Greenwich for the original dates — so part way through our visit we moved out to the “suburbs.” (The Greenwich place wasn’t a bad one at all. It was just a bit further away from the action, which is why it was less expensive.)

In any case, we found ourselves commuting in to London by rail quite a bit, often passing right by the central portion of Greenwich. But eventually it turned out to be convenient to stop there, grab a bite, and check things out. This area is clearly geared to visitors — lots of restaurants, for example. But it has, at least to this American, a rather different feeling from downtown London, so we enjoyed wandering around a bit and we found a pub with a nice outdoor garden for lunch. The light was quite beautiful on this day. There were clouds around, but the atmosphere was bright and the light was intense, so much that this photograph somehow reminds me a bit of winter light in Southern California.


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.

21 Choices

21 Choices
A Pasadena street corner on a winter afternoon

21 Choices. Pasadena, California. January 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Pasadena street corner on a winter afternoon

To some extent, although I’ll write a bit about it, this is one of those photographs that you’ll need to sort out for yourself. It may seem like a snapshot, or it may seem like something else, or it might seem like both.

Just after New Years Day we went to Southern California for a few days, driving down the Coast Highway (before the winter storms closed it) and then visiting areas at the northern and southern ends of the Los Angeles Basin. We stayed in Pasadena, a place I hadn’t visited for a while and one that I don’t know all that well, aside from the typical Californian’s knowledge of a place that comes from driving past on freeways. Because we had some unscheduled time we ended up wandering in downtown Pasadena a bit, and I had time to begin to get a bit of a feeling for the place, at least as it is in mid-winter light of the sort 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.

The Shadow Line

The Shadow Line
The boundary between morning sunlight and shadow traverses granite slabs

The Shadow Line. Yosemite Valley, California. February 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The boundary between morning sunlight and shadow traverses granite slabs

These slabs on the lower face of the Glacier Point apron always attract me, especially in the morning. I go way back with them — many years ago when I was, for a short time, a budding rock climber, we climbed on them, testing the limits of our trust in friction. Today, when I’m in this section of the Valley early in the morning, I always watch for the arrival of the first sun on the slopes.

I was in a cold meadow before sunrise on this winter morning. Soon the first light began to touch the cliffs along the north side of the Valley, and then trees along the upper rim near Glacier Point picked up the light. It worked its way slowly down the immense face, and the light final streamed through gaps behind Half Dome and slanted across this slope and revealed the cracks and scallops on the weathered granite.


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.

Three Planes

Three Planes
A corner along a walkway, San Francisco

Three Planes. San Francisco, California. February 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A corner along a walkway, San Francisco

Since the photograph is minimalist I will make the commentary minimal as well. I made the photograph outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) at the end of a recent visit. This was a photograph of opportunity, made handheld as I left the museum and saw this simple conjunction of planes and varied light and textures.


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.