Tag Archives: shadows

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Reyes, Clearing Fog

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Point Reyes, Clearing Fog
Morning fog clears aove the hills and bays of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Point Reyes, Clearing Fog. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning fog clears aove the hills and bays of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Living in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the Point Reyes National Seashore is merely a longish day trip for me. I haven’t been there since the onset of the pandemic, but in more normal times I make up there during every season of the year — mostly to photograph, but also to see the elephant seals, to escape inland heat… and to stop for morning pasty and coffee at Point Reyes Station.

The park mostly wraps itself along and around Drakes Bay, with the “point” being the furthest terminus of a long peninsula extending into the Pacific Ocean. To make this photograph I stopped near the base of that peninsula and drove up a narrow road toward a high point on the ridge that runs roughly parallel to Tomales Bay. From here I could look across nearby tree-covered hills, past the lower rolling hills, over Drakes Estero, and toward Point Reyes, barely visible in the thinning morning fog.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tanker 540

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Tanker 540
A tanker trailer parked in an industrial area.

Tanker 540. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tanker trailer parked in an industrial area.

With this photograph I take a little detour away from the recent Sierra Nevada fall color photographs. (Don’t worry — there are more to come!) This subject is about as far away from those colorful photographs as possible, I think. During this pandemic period I walk a lot, every day if possible, and sometimes quite a few miles. The walks take me into lots of places in a two to three mile radius from where we live, and this includes quite diverse areas ranging from a small downtown to wealthy residential neighborhoods to old areas of the city and even some industrial zones.

This photograph comes from the latter — an old industrial area now surrounded by more urban areas, with its edges gradually being chewed away by condo developments and other kinds of revitalization. Walking down a street near a plant that supplies materials for building roads, I passed several of these black trailers parked by this old concrete building. The trailer itself seemed interesting, but so did the building and the angled shadows of overhead utility wires.

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: Pandemia, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Benches

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Benches
Unused benches at a school closed by the pandemic.

Benches. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Unused benches at a school closed by the pandemic.

One of the regular features of my life during the pandemic has been my daily (with almost no exceptions) walks around the neighborhood. They range from “gotta’ at least do the minimum” 30-minute walks that barely get the blood-pressure up to longer walks that can be six or seven miles long — sometimes on out and back routes and other times on giant loops. By necessity, these tend to take me through some combination of residential neighborhoods, minor “downtown” areas, and some light industrial districts.

I always have a camera with me, carried in a small over-the-shoulder bag that holds a few other necessities — a bottle of water, a quick snack, phone, etc. Most often I don’t make any photographs, but every so often the urge strikes — sufficient reason to carry the camera on all those other walks. (The camera is minimal — a rangefinder-style mirrorless body with one very small prime lens.) This particular walk took me past a school closed by the lock-down, where benches that might normally be the center of a lively teenage social world were scattered forlornly.

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

Windows and Fire Escape Shadows

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Windows and Fire Escape Shadows
Shadows from a fire escape system fall across the facade of a San Francisco building.

Windows and Fire Escape Shadows. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows from a fire escape system fall across the facade of a San Francisco building.

Yes, another of the photographs I make on walks in San Francisco — or used to make in the pre-pandemic days when I would regularly hop on a train to the City, something that would be unwise now. (The trains still run, on a reduced schedule, but it isn’t worth the risk to spend two hours or more on a train.) I look forward to the time when I can resume this happy habit and head back up there for some wandering!

I’ve thought a bit about what drew me to this subject. For one thing, my landscape-photographer eyes often see urban subjects as a kind of urban landscape full of its versions of peaks, valleys, cliffs, and more. I know that I’m also attracted to certain kinds of geometry and symmetry, usually the sort that is patterned but not quite perfectly. The very subtle colors also caught my attention — it mostly looks gray, but it actually is subtly colored, and in a few places the color becomes strong enough to register as being a bit outside the monochromatic continuum. Finally, those shadows really intrigue me, especially at this time of day on this day and in this season, when they fall almost perfectly across the front of the building.

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.