Tag Archives: trail

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

People on MUNI Platform

June 2, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Street scene from an overhead perspective of several people waiting for the train on a MUNI platform in San Francisco.

There is a good chance that this photograph isn’t going to make a lot of sense to some of my friends who enjoy my landscape work – but it is actually one of my personal favorite recent photographs. There are several things that I like about it. For one, I actually like the mostly muted color palette of grays and blues, but with the warmer yellow stripes on the platform and the two odd “international orange” pylon bases. I also like the combination of a strong symmetry with a bunch of elements that are anything but perfect and symmetrical: the positions of the five figures, the paving stones with squares of dirt, the slightly off-angle barricades. I can also look at this as an abstract image of shapes, most of which are related in some way to rectangles. And then there is the interesting (to me, at least) arrangement of the people into three groups: the two guys on the right who seem to be looking up towards my camera position, the couple who appear to be gazing at each other, and the girl on the left who is facing the other direction and seemingly oblivious to her surroundings as she talks on the phone. I also like the transparent curving wall beyond the four figures at the right and the position of the two trash cans (trash cans!) between them and the girl.

You certainly don’t have to share my enthusiasm for this photograph, but perhaps you’ll understand a bit of what I think I see in it.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: man, woman, people, cell, phone, couple, gaze, trash, can, barricade, curve, roof, platform, cement, concrete, aggregate, tile, rail, track, muni, trail, transit, station, fence, curb, city, downtown, urban, street, paving, san francisco, california, usa, travel, stock, king, barrier, transparent, curve

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Dogwood Blossoms and Leaves

May 20, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Spring dogwood tree blossoms and new leaves, Yosemite Valley.

I found this pair of dogwood blossoms and the accompanying diagonal arrangement of new leaves when I left the crowded “Mirror Lake Trail” (which is, in reality, a road…) and instead walked the parallel and much more attractive footpath through the forest. It can be hard to get a full view of the dogwood flowers from above since the great majority of the flowers grow above eye level. Here I found a large boulder parked next to a tree, and while the leaves were a good distance up in the tree, by climbing onto the boulder and setting my tripod up on top I was able to find a good high position to photograph them.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: california, sierra nevada, travel, Yosemite, valley, national, park, usa, dogwood, tree, leaf, bloom, blossom, bracht, petal, white, leaf, leaves, branch, dark, forest, bokeh, sun, light, nature, scenic, mirror lake, trail, sun, sierra, nevada, mountians, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Near Cathedral Grove, Muir Woods

April 3, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Redwood forest and ground cover of ferns and Oregon oxalis near Cathedral Grove, Muir Woods National Monument.

This photograph was made a bit later in the morning as I was returning to the entrance to Muir Woods, and the sun was a bit higher in the sky and, from time to time, casting light all the way down to the forest floor.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, park, trail, cathedral, grove, forest, tree, redwood, ferns, oregon, oxalis, sorrel, trunk, branch, leaf, sky, trail, light, sun, needles, nature, landscape, travel, scenic, marin county, path, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Larkspur Flowers

April 2, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Larkspur in spring bloom along a trail at Almaden Quicksilver Park, California.

These flowers were also photographed along the little section of trail running through the valley at Almaden Quicksilver Park that I mentioned in an earlier post or two. This valley holds a wonderful collection of spring wildflowers, and I visit it each year during the several weeks of late March and early April each year when the wildflower display is at its peak. There is a bend in the trail on a downhill section where the ground is shady in the morning and open to the sun in the afternoon where a small garden of these flowers is found – the entire patch contains perhaps a dozen or two plants, and the flowers come and go quite quickly.

I find this flower to be one of the most difficult to photograph – and for a series of reasons. It is not seen that widely; you will find it if you are out and about, but it certainly is not ubiquitous. Its blooms are only visible, much less attractive, for a short time somewhat early in the wildflower season – the flowers can quickly turn dry and drab looking. Sometimes a very nice flower will share a stem with others that are way past their prime. And, finally, the flower’s color is very dark – this can make it very tricky to shoot in even the best light. Its details can easily disappear into the dark tones, and its color can be overshadowed by almost any other plant that shares the frame. In this photograph I was lucky to fine a group of flowers still in pretty good shape, that had a slightly redder tint than some might, and which was illuminated by back/side light that wasn’t too harsh, and which were in front of background plants that were not in full sun. Using a long lens with its narrow depth of field also helped to diffuse the background and set the flowers off a bit.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: larkspur, Delphinium depauperatum, flower, wild, wildflower, purple, blue, green, plant, foliage, stem, bokeh, spring, season, california, usa, almaden, quicksilver, county, park, santa clara, san jose, trail, hike, hills, san francisco, bay area, nature, stock, bud, bloom, blossom

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