Tag Archives: stone

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building And Shadow, Tuscany

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Building And Shadow, Tuscany
A cloud drifts in the sky above stone buildings in Tuscany

Building And Shadow, Tuscany. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cloud drifts in the sky above stone buildings in Tuscany

If you follow my posts you may have noticed quite a few post from Italy recently, and you might be wondering why. Have you been to Italy? ;-) OK, there are more objective reasons I can share. I make a habit of reviewing older work a year or more after I make the photographs. I see the images differently with a bit more subjective distance from the actual experience. There’s another reason, too, and it ties the place I live (California) to Italy it ways that have only recently made more sense to me. This spring and summer as I’ve walked trails in California’s grass and oak lands on warm days, it has hit me just how similar the experiences can be. And a visit to an area winery on such a day reinforced that feeling. So I suppose I’ve been enjoying both the pleasant memories of the 2016 visit from which this photograph comes and the realization that I live in a place that shares some Italy’s pleasant features.

This is one of a pair of related photographs I made at an Italian vineyard and winery we visited — both focus on the stone buildings and midday shadows. (The related image will show up here in a later post.) The vineyard centers on a very old hamlet consisting of stone buildings surrounded by vineyard. We were there in the middle of the day, and the unique Italian light was wonderful. I’m not quite sure how to describe it in words, but it has some remarkable combination of the intensity of southern light along with the softness of the Italian atmosphere.

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: Italy, Photographs: Travel

Tables and Stools, Tuscany

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Talbles and Stools, Tuscany
Stools and stone tables in the cellar at a Tuscan vineyard

Tables and Stools, Tuscany. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stools and stone tables in the cellar at a Tuscan vineyard.

For serendipitous reasons I’m posting this photograph from Tuscany today. We were shopping and we wandered into a wine section, and while somewhat aimlessly looking over some of the selections we recognized that name of a winery we visited: Castello di Ama. We did not buy any wine while we were there, so it was fortuitous to discover a source locally.

While we were there we took a tour. I’m not an authoritative tour guide, but my recollection is that the place was essentially a very tine village at one time, and still has a small collection of buildings and cobbled roads. During a visit to the cellars we passed through this small space. I’m afraid I no longer recall precisely what its purpose is, but I find it visually intriguing in several ways.

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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sculpted Sandstone

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Sculpted Sandstone
Sky light reflected on sculpted and curving sandstone in a Utah slot canyon

Sculpted Sandstone. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sky light reflected on sculpted and curving sandstone in a Utah slot canyon

We have to change the way we think about the daily progression of light when photographing in slot canyons. I first learned this when photographing in the red sandstone country of Utah, but it is just as true in the relatively less colorful canyons of Death Valley or even in some places in the plain gray granite landscape of the Sierra Nevada. In most cases we are drawn to the warm, early morning light, with its long shadows and lovely color. But in the canyons that light can be far less compelling, and it may even just end up seeming drab. Once you reset your expectations you find that the best canyon light often comes in the middle of the day, when the sun rises high enough to directly illuminate the red canyon rims, and then this light bounces and reflects downward into the canyon depths.

I made this photograph in a spot in a Utah canyon that was perhaps an even better than usual location for reflected canyon light. The rock was red standstone. Late-morning sunlight lit the upper rim, and that light suffused the lower reaches of the canyon. But here the narrow section of slot canyon wasn’t very long, and some bluish light from the sky reflected on angled rock surfaces, introducing a striking color contrast to the scene.

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.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Red Door, Paris

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Red Door, Paris
A red door in the Le Marais area of Paris

Red Door, Paris. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A red door in the Le Marais area of Paris

On this summer’s visit to Paris we stayed along the edge of Le Marais, in an area not far from the Seine, transportation, and the Centre Pompidou. The latter was on our list of places to visit this time, and on this morning we were walking into that area when we passed through this neighborhood of old buildings and narrow streets.

I don’t suppose there is a whole lot to write about (another!) photograph of a colorful door on an old building — after all, it is a bit of a “type.” One thing that did intrigue me about this little scene was the clear attempt to add something approximating nature to this very urban setting… though apparently not with complete success judging from the condition of some of the potted plants.

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