Tag Archives: shadow

Photographs: Italy

Lamp, Cloud, Stone Walls

Leave a comment
Lamp, Cloud, Stone Walls
Midday light along the narrow road through Castello d’Ama, Italy

Lamp, Cloud, Stone Walls. Castello d’Ama, Italy. August 22, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Midday light along the narrow road through Castello di Ama, Italy

While visiting a vineyard/winery here I learned some things I would not have expected about this part of Italy. I’m used to California’s wine country, especially the areas in northern California where a lot of the vineyards seem to be either on hillsides of quite often in flat river valleys. Here, at least among the vineyards around the area where I made this photograph, the vineyards are on relatively steep hillsides and, as I discovered, on soil that is more rock than dirt. There was a place where the path was well below the level of the soil surface and a section of the rock wall had been removed to show the earth down perhaps 6-8 feet deep… and it was almost entirely rock.

Speaking of these paths, I made this photograph along an old, narrow, winding “road” between the buildings of a now-isolated village. It was midday, when the light becomes much brighter and sharper, though still with that bit of softness that seems to be the norm here. The high sun angle and bright light cast a strong shadow across the wall at the left and part of the part, while a few scattered clouds floated by overhead.

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.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mountains, Evening Shadows

Leave a comment
Desert Mountains, Evening Shadows
Patterns of rock, evening light, and shadows in rugged desert mountain terrain

Desert Mountains, Evening Shadows. Death Valley National Park, California. March 30, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns of rock, evening light, and shadows in rugged desert mountain terrain

In places along the eastern edge of Death Valley, the color of soils and rocks varies tremendously. In the daytime light the colors are perhaps subtle — tans, reddish, gold, black, and more — but in the early and late (especially, on this side of the valley) light the colors intensify and become more saturated.

After I finished photographing more expansive views taking in the width and length of the portion of the Valley and including the base of the Panamint Mountains, I headed over along this other side of the valley where the final light falls. This scene holds some of the range of rock color, along with the rugged landscape of overlapping hills and gullies.

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.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Gate and Harbor

Leave a comment
Gate and Harbor
Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Gate and Harbor. San Francisco, California. May 20, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Closed gate and shadows at South Beach Harbor, San Francisco

Up early and on the train to San Francisco on a sunny spring morning, I got off at the SF Caltrain Station and began walking along the waterfront. This is familiar territory to me, since “train walks” are a somewhat regular event for me, especially during spring and summer. I get off the train and slowly wander in one or another direction on foot, taking time to look. Sometimes it turns into and out-and-back walk, and sometimes something like a loop. (The latter is what happened on this morning.)

I decided to hear toward the bay, past AT&T Park and then along the waterfront. I angled over toward the South Beach Harbor, mainly because of the luminous and intense light coming across the bay as the fog began to clear — so bright that it was almost impossible to look directly into it. As I passed the harbor this shadow fell across the walkway, so I stepped back and shot straight into its shadow, with the harbor and the bay behind.

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.

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Imaginary Landscapes, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tower

Leave a comment
Tower
“Tower” — Tall building in shadow, San Francisco

I have a series of photographs, a series that I call my “imaginary landscapes” — photographs that do not attempt to be objectively real depictions (not that photographs can truly succeed at such a thing) but instead go for what I think of as a subjective reality. This photograph is an urban equivalent to those — perhaps an “urban imaginary landscape?”

The source image came from a recent visit to San Francisco, when I was in a location from which I could look directly toward the outer shells of very tall buildings. Because the weather was overcast, the light was muted and it made its way into shadowed areas that might otherwise be dark. This produced a source image that allowed me a great deal of leeway for interpretation in post.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.