Tag Archives: side

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Morning, Round Valley

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Autumn Morning, Round Valley
Autumn Morning, Round Valley

Autumn Morning, Round Valley. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 11, 2013. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on the pastureland and trees of Round Valley and the eastern Sierra Nevada

This lovely pastoral location sits at the base of the eastern Sierra, and is as much a part of the Owens Valley as it is a part of the Sierra. It is green and lush in the spring and early summer, it takes on some of the typical California golden color later on, and its brown grasses and colorful leaves produce a beautiful sight in autumn. It is not at all a “destination,” but it is a place that I always look forward to seeing when I pass up and down the east side of the range.

There are two particularly beautiful lighting conditions that occur here. One, which I’ll share in another photograph a bit later, occurs in the afternoon. The sun drops behind a tall ridge along the upper section of the valley, leaving the steep slopes of the eastern Sierra escarpment in shade while brilliantly lighting the autumn-colored cottonwood trees from behind. The other lighting, which is seen in this photograph, comes in the morning, when low angle light crosses the meadow, creating long shadows and gradually lighting up the backdrop of the Sierra.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Building 45, Rain and Shadows

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Building 45, Rain and Shadows - Black and white night photograph of Building 45 with rain and shadows, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard
Black and white night photograph of Building 45 with rain and shadows, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

Building 45, Rain and Shadows. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. November 17, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white night photograph of Building 45 with rain and shadows, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard

Having shot at Mare Island so many times, and having never encountered any weather challenges more daunting than a little wind or some night-time cold, I suppose I was due for some rain. And we got it on this visit. This being the annual “Nocturnes Alumni Night” event, people arrived much earlier than necessary for night photography – during the daylight hours mostly. As we met and shared photographs and then pizza, the conversation occasionally turned to the question of, “When will the weather front arrive tonight?” The most optimistic among us thought that it might not rain at all. Others thought it would hold off until after we were done shooting. Still others – including those of us with smart phones running weather radar applications – were not so sure that we would escape the weather this time, since it looked like the front would pass over us very shortly after we planned to start shooting.

The pessimists were right this time! Less than a half hour after we dispersed into the darkness to begin our work, it was already sprinkling, and within a few more minutes the front arrived and it began to rain in earnest. Along with another group of Nocturnes, I quickly moved to the shelter of one of the old mansions and hung out on the porch. The front wasn’t large, and after an hour or so the rain had diminished to the point that I could venture back out again. (To those who wonder about such things, the combination of night and rain is not conducive to being out and about making photographs.) I headed back over into the “historic core” area near the waterfront as the sprinkles continued, eventually ending up at this spot, near the end of building 45. Access wasn’t as easy as usual due to construction in the area and due to that darned rain! However, the rain created special conditions for night photography, adding a reflective gleam to all of the wet surfaces. The lighting here is from nearby street lights and security lights, and the sodium vapor lamps create a very garish yellow effect in color photographs – so I decided that I would take this one in the black and white direction. The patter on the wall at the right is a shadow from the huge gantry structure that towers above this spot.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Aurora Bridge, Seattle

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Tower and steel structures beneath the Aurora Bridge, Seattle, Washington
Aurora Bridge, Seattle – Tower and steel structures beneath the Aurora Bridge, Seattle, Washington

Aurora Bridge, Seattle. Seattle, Washington. May 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tower and steel structures beneath the Aurora Bridge, Seattle, Washington.

In early May I was briefly in Seattle on personal business, and I found myself with a free couple of hours that coincided with a Seattle Photo Walk in the Fremont district – so I left my other business behind, grabbed camera and a couple primes, and headed to the meet-up at the statue of Lenin. Really – it is a long story. ;-)

For those who don’t know, there is a waterfront along the edge of Fremont – the waterway connecting Lake Washington to the Puget Sound by way of the Ballard Locks. North of the water is a more hilly area, and Aurora Avenue crosses from there heading south over the water by way of the Aurora Bridge, which stands high above the water and above Fremont. Almost as soon as I started my “photo walk” in Fremont, I knew that I wanted to wander on over towards the bridge to see what I could find. It turns out that there is a recreational trail that passes alongside and under the bridge, so I walked down that way and made a series of handheld photographs from underneath this impressive structure.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

East Side of Bishop Pass

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East Side of Bishop Pass - Trail and meadows below the east side of Bishop Pass, eastern Sierra Nevada range
Trail and meadows below the east side of Bishop Pass, eastern Sierra Nevada range

East Side of Bishop Pass. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. August 4, 2005. © Copyright 2005 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trail and meadows below the east side of Bishop Pass, eastern Sierra Nevada range.

This photograph comes from about a dozen years ago. I recently came across it while sorting through older photograph files for a variety of reasons – general clearing out of old images, searching for photographs of a particular subject for a client, and seeing what older images I might have missed when I first made them. When I saw this photograph it evoked a whole series of fun recollections.

Nearly weeks earlier, I had begun a two-week-long backpack trip along a section of the John Muir Trail. At that time, the only section of the JMT that I had not hiked (at least once!) was an area between approximately Shadow Lake and the Muir Trail Ranch – and this was to be the trip on which I covered this remaining bit of trail. The trip started just fine, though in some territory that is not exactly my favorite portion of the range – the low areas around Devils Postpile. After passing by that national monument we headed south, passing Duck Lake and camping at Purple Lake.

The next morning I woke up feeling a bit under the weather, an unusual experience for me on the trail. The next leg of the trip was to take us through an area without an easy exit, and I became concerned about what would happen if my “feeling poorly” deteriorated into actually being sick. I reluctantly decided to leave my group to continue without me, and I backtracked over Duck Pass and down into the Mammoth Lakes area and headed home. (Ironically, by the time I got out I was feeling fine…)

Ending a trip this way just didn’t feel right, so I hatched a plan to show up and run into my friends on the last day of their trip. Since they were coming out over Bishop Pass, I crossed that pass into beautiful Dusy Basin a day earlier, and on the next morning hiked down the canyon so that I could be casually sitting on a rock as they came up the trail from LeConte Canyon. I have rarely seen people as surprised as they were when they found me! After our reunion and joining them for their last trail night, the next morning we were up early to hike out over Bishop Pass. This photograph was made shortly after we crossed the pass and began our descent to the trailhead.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.