Tag Archives: trail

Photographs: Pandemia, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fence and Gate

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Fence and Gate
A gate in a fence along a trail, photographed on a neighborhood walk.

Fence and Gate. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gate in a fence along a trail, photographed on a neighborhood walk.

As I have shared in the past, during the pandemic I have cut way back on longer photographic outings, which sadly means less time in places like the Sierra Nevada and similar. (I still go to those places — carefully! — but much less frequently.) On the other hand, initially to compensate but now because it has become habitual, I’m doing a lot of walking in a radius of a few miles around our home. Walks are very close to daily events, and they vary between a couple of miles and up to occasionally as much as eight miles. Among other benefits, these walks open my eyes to local features that I would otherwise overlook. (I have informally referred to the resulting photographs as “postcards from Pandemia.”)

This photo comes from one such recent walk. The subject is simply a gate in a fence along a trail that I probably walk two or three times each week. After months of walking past this, for some reason the gate caught my attention this time. I’ve gone with a black and white rendition here — I’m leaning towards focusing on monochrome for this series now — and a very dark interpretation of the subject. For a long time all of my photographs have tended to try to put more light into the scene. Don’t expect that to stop, however I’m also starting to consider how I can explore images that lean toward darker tones.

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.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow

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Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow
A trail crosses a rise beyond an alpine lake as rain begins and a rainbow appears against stormy skies, Kings Canyon National Park.

Alpine Lake, Storm, and Rainbow. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A trail crosses a rise beyond an alpine lake as rain begins and a rainbow appears against stormy skies, Kings Canyon National Park.

This photograph comes from a wonderful trip into the Kings Canyon backcountry seven summers ago. A group of five photographers who have been doing such things for almost twenty years (I’ve been going along for a decade) packed in to a remote location at 12,000′ and set up a basecamp. We spent a week there photographing the heck out of the nearby landscape of granite, lakes, and peaks — and enjoying the camaraderie that comes from working together in the wilderness.

By the time I made this photograph I had settled thoroughly into the routines of living and photographing in such a place. I’ve often photographed while hiking through the Sierra, but working from a base-camp gives me time to explore more carefully, to get to know the character of a place, and to experience it in a variety of conditions. Although it was the tail-end of a drought season, we had rain from time to time, and on this afternoon I photographed an area full of lakes as the afternoon showers arrived.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Canyon and Mountains, Morning

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Canyon and Mountains, Morning
A Death Valley canyon and mountains, backlit by early morning winter light.

Canyon and Mountains, Morning. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A Death Valley canyon and mountains, backlit by early morning winter light.

I have a bit of a long relationship with this spot in Death Valley. I stop there on almost every visit to the park, typically either very early in the morning (arriving before dawn) or else for last light in the evening. I’ve been there when the wind was strong enough to make it difficult to walk, when it was unbelievably cold, on still warm days, in blah conditions that made me ask “why?,” — and on one memorable occasion I had to turn back because there was too much snow!

As a photographic subject this landscape is greatly dependent on conditions of atmosphere and light. in “normal” light in the middle of the day it is a gigantic vista but rarely a compelling photograph. But early in the morning very interesting things can happen, especially when the backlight is strong and there is just enough haze in the air to make the atmosphere glow.

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.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Twisting Canyon

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Twisting Canyon
Morning light shines into the bottom of a desert canyon.

Twisting Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light shines into the bottom of a desert canyon.

One of the things I like about this photograph is that it gives virtually no clues about when it was made — it could be a burning hot summer day, or it could be a winter day. In addition, there isn’t much to provide scale — is this canyon small and intimate or is it gigantic? The truth is that I made the photograph on a very cold winter morning, and the photograph is of of the bottom of a very large Death Valley canyon that winds up into mountains.

I think there is a lot going on in this scene, and with most of the components you could regard them for what they are or you could consider them for the graphic contribution. The bottom of the canyon winds back and fort and then disappears around a bend. The backlit top edges of gullies descend from left to right at the bottom of the scene, but descend in contrary motion above that. There is more depth to the scene than might first be apparent — a more distant slope sits in the upper left corner. And the faces are full of bent and twisted strata that have been tilted to a 45 degree angle.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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