Tag Archives: sun

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

Shop Window, Shadows

March 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Afternoon sun casts shadows on display in a shop window

We headed to Southern California just after the New Year. It was an excuse to take the Pacific Coast Highway down the California coast — we were fortunate to do this before winter storms forced a long-term closure! — and to visit various family members. Between the scheduled events we wandered a bit and visited whatever nearby thing seemed interesting.

We spent this afternoon wandering downtown Pasadena. It was a fairly lazy day — we had the afternoon pretty much free, with nothing on the calendar but an evening get-together. I made this photograph as the low-angle afternoon winter light slanted across the street and through the windows of this store to produce complex patterns of reflections, text, and the store’s interior.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

The Shadow Line

March 3, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The boundary between morning sunlight and shadow traverses granite slabs

These slabs on the lower face of the Glacier Point apron always attract me, especially in the morning. I go way back with them — many years ago when I was, for a short time, a budding rock climber, we climbed on them, testing the limits of our trust in friction. Today, when I’m in this section of the Valley early in the morning, I always watch for the arrival of the first sun on the slopes.

I was in a cold meadow before sunrise on this winter morning. Soon the first light began to touch the cliffs along the north side of the Valley, and then trees along the upper rim near Glacier Point picked up the light. It worked its way slowly down the immense face, and the light final streamed through gaps behind Half Dome and slanted across this slope and revealed the cracks and scallops on the weathered granite.

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

Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Two Sandhill Cranes in Dawn Flight

January 13, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pair of lesser sandhill cranes flies toward the rising sun

The first birds that attracted my attention when I began to seriously photograph them in California’s Central Valley were not sandhill cranes, but rather geese. A series of coincidences led me to (finally!) “discover” the great winter bird migration, something I should have known about much earlier, having lived in this state for nearly my entire life. I recall one winter drive up the Valley perhaps 15 years ago when I first saw and was amazed by flocks of geese in dusk light above the Sacramento Valley.

Once I started photographing these birds I soon discovered that there’s a lot more going on than those astonishing huge flocks of geese — many other birds, all of them with different behavior patterns and attractions. It did not take long to discover sandhill cranes, birds that I had read about but not understood all the way back in college. While they can be ungainly on the ground, their pattern of flight is often magnificent and their cries now characterize the audio winter landscape of the Valley for me. This pair had just arisen from its overnight home along a wetland pond and was flying past and toward the dawn sun.

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Urban/Street

Laundry, Morning Sun

December 21, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light shines on a building wall with drying laundry, Radda, Italy

If my memory is correct, I made this photograph on just about our final morning in the Chianti region of Italy in the summer of 2016. We had spent a week with family at a place in the hills, exploring the vineyards and olive groves of the region, and visiting the hilltop village of Radda several times. (It was one of the nearest towns in this rural area.)

We visited again on this morning, arriving early enough that the narrow streets were not crowded, though vendors were starting to set up shop for the day. Because we were in no hurry, I took time to wander off from the main street and look around a few out-of-the-way spots, including this little street up near the highest point of the town, where buildings were packed tightly together. The brilliant summer light was just hitting the wall of this building.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sun

Shop Window, Shadows

The Shadow Line

Two Sandhill Cranes in Dawn Flight

Laundry, Morning Sun

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.