Tag Archives: steps

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Entering the Dunes

Image Leave a comment
Entering the Dunes
Footprints lead into the sand dune landscape.

Entering the Dunes. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Footprints lead into the sand dune landscape.

Most of our landscape photographs try to present the landscape without obvious human presence. I write “obvious” because it is hard to find any place where no human effects are present. Sometimes photographers are criticized for presenting the illusion that this isn’t so. While I think the point is important, the criticism is unwarranted and based on its own untenable notion of what wilderness is. In any case, the inclusion of a more overt human element in photographs can encourage us to think of these places in a different way.

We often strive to photograph dunes after sand storms, when footprints have been erased. But including such things can also engage us in the landscape in useful ways — if nothing else they urge viewers to imagine themselves in these places. The footprints here are somewhat subtle, but I think that we relate to the scene differently when we see a line of footprints leading into it.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Upper West Side

Image Leave a comment
Upper West Side
Steps leading to residences on the Upper West Side, Manhattan

Upper West Side. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Steps leading to residences on the Upper West Side, Manhattan

Recently I’ve been sharing a steady stream of landscape photographs, most of which came from trips to photograph fall color on the east and west coasts. We were in the East twice in recent months, and both times took us to somewhat more rural areas of New England — southern Vermont in August and New Hampshire (and a bit more Vermont) in October. But both times we include some time in New York City. That lengthy introduction is all by way of warning you that there’s some Manhattan urban and street photography coming up!

I start gently with this photograph, one that you might even think of as a sort of “urban landscape.” We often stay at a place on the Upper West Side, a bit west of the Natural History Museum, since it is outside of the busiest parts of Manhattan, provides good subway access, and is closer to some folks in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx. We walk a lot while we’re there, and I photographed these steps in the neighborhood on one of those walks. The line-up of the steps intrigues me, but I also like the unusual palette of colors.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

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

No Parking

Image Leave a comment
No Parking
No Parking sign and colorfu paint on a San Francisco residence.

No Parking. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

No Parking sign and colorfu paint on a San Francisco residence.

There are lots of places offering similar visual opportunities in San Francisco, and they aren’t hard to find, especially if you get out and walk the City. And this is a very walkable city! I often walk almost all the way across between the CalTrain station and points north, following various favorite routes. This spot, if I recall correctly, is on a side street in roughly an area between North Beach and the tourist center known as Fisherman’s Wharf.

There are plenty of ways to photograph the sometimes-eclectic (and other times quite classic) architecture of this city. In terms of scale, I can go anywhere between including entire buildings (or even groups of them) and photographs that focus on very small elements — a door, a stairway, a bit of a window. In this one the colors, of course, were the main attraction. But I also was taken by the almost Cubist composition that resulted from cropping tightly.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Concrete Steps

Image Leave a comment
Concrete Steps
“Concrete Steps” — Concrete steps with water stains.

The simple story behind this photograph is that the steps are located at a formal garden where we had gone to photograph tulips and other spring flowers in April. As I photograph those subjects I also had my eyes open for non-floral photographs, too — in fact, sometimes my favorites from such places are not the flower pictures. On one level, this is just a photograph of steps. It is up to you how far beyond that you want to go.

I’m thinking of an insightful Minor White quotation: “One does not photograph something simply for ‘what it is’, but ‘for what else it is.” You miss out if you look at a photograph merely as “what it is.” Sometimes the photographer intends the “what else” and hopes that the viewer sees it. But in many situations the photographer may not fully see what is in the image at the time of exposure, and only discover it later. Sometimes the viewer may find things that the photographer doesn’t recognize. I’m going to leave it to viewers to consider this photograph from that perspective.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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.