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Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Escalator, Windows

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Escalator, Windows
Afternoon light from nearby windows on an escalator, the Louvre

Escalator, Windows. The Louvre, Paris. August 11, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light from nearby windows on an escalator, the Louvre

We spent the better part of a day during our recent Paris visit at the Louvre. Anyone who has been there knows that a day is far from sufficient time to really see the place and the art that is housed there. We managed one full floor of one (of three) wings and a bit of one or two other areas. Clearly we have no choice but to return to Paris!

It is no secret that I, like lots of other photographs, am entranced by geometric shapes, effects of light, angles, and juxtapositions. Sometimes there is time to see these things and carefully consider how best to photograph them, but sometimes we don’t have the luxury. In this case, I had very little time, as the view is from a moving escalator! Fortunately, I had my camera in hand as we rode down to a lower level, so I was able to quickly raise the camera and make a few quick exposures of this view as it evolved and rolled past.

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: France

The Louvre

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The Louvre
The Louvre, viewed from an upstairs gallery

The Louvre. Paris, France. August 11, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Louvre, viewed from an upstairs gallery

Most of our time in Paris was sunny, but one morning we awoke to fog. We were on an upper floor of a hotel in Montmartre from which we had a view toward the center of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and the fog was a surprise — it look and felt a lot like a good old San Francisco morning fog. In our by-now-typical “casual” (lazy?) fashion we eventually left the hotel and headed downtown.

There is, obviously, a lot to see and do in Paris — and when you spend about four hours per day (happily) eating and sitting in cafes you cannot do everything. But we did want to get to the Louvre, and this was the day. If you’ve been there, this isn’t news, but the place is absolutely huge — overwhelming, actually. We had no illusions about seeing the whole thing, so we spend most of the day on one floor of one section, with brief forays into a couple other areas. During one break I found this window with its view overlooking the courtyard area.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Commentary

A Photo A Day: How Long Has This Gone On?

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Recently someone who was giving a talk on photography noted that I have been posting a photograph every day for a long time. His guess was that I had been doing so for about four of five years. I told him that I thought that it has been longer than this, but I wasn’t sure how long.

Morning Light, Zabriskie Point
Morning light on the badlands near Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park

Morning Light, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park. April 4, 2004. © Copyright 2004 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved. (Originally posted April 5, 2006.)

Judging from some records I just looked up, I think I may have been doing this since early April 2006! Some of those earliest posts are still there, but the photographs have gone missing — in the course of moving the website between different hosts and transferring the content from one content management system to another some of the early content was lost.

(This was not the first photograph shared  I posted online — I was blogging in the mid-1990s, and posting photographs not long afterward. It is a bit scary to think of how many thousands of photographs I must have posted by now!)

My friend (the “someone” mentioned above) was pointing to this history in the context of practice, something that I think is tremendously important in photography. He and I share extensive background and training in music, where the importance of practice is obvious, and where practicing is assumed. Continue reading A Photo A Day: How Long Has This Gone On? →

Commentary, Ideas, Morning Musings

Landscape Not-Photography

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It is no secret that I’m pretty serious about my landscape photography. I spend a lot of time going to interesting places, searching out subjects, and making photographs. In fact, this activity is undoubtedly the single biggest influence on the nature of my outdoor experiences.

Subalpine Meadow, Summer
Midday summer sky reflected in a subalpine tarn, Yosemite National Park

I embrace this effect and regard it as highly positive. I’m convinced that photography deepens my appreciation and understanding of these places and subjects. Like every photographer I know who shares my passion for these subjects, entering the natural world to make photographs focuses my perceptions in powerful ways. I slow down. I stop. I look. I ponder. I wonder. I indulge my curiosity and I see things that I would otherwise miss. I’m intensely aware of light, color, atmosphere, form, and subject.

But sometimes the photography gets in the way… Continue reading Landscape Not-Photography →