Tag Archives: travel

Hi From Paris

Hi From Paris
Street art on a Paris wall at night.

Hi From Paris. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Street art on a Paris wall at night.

One thing often leads to another. Recently I looked up a photograph I made in a few years ago. (I’m writing something about that photograph that will appear on my blog soon.) As I contemplated the circumstance of making that photograph I wanted to go back and look at others I made right before and after that one. Once I started it was impossible to stop, and before long I was digging into a body of work that I had not looked at for a while. As I did, I found some forgotten images that I wanted to work on.

This photograph is one of them. We were staying in Montmartre, and on this evening we went out to find something to eat… and then we ended up just walking along the evening streets, taking in the feeling of the place and, of course, making photographs. As in many big cities, there is fascinating street art throughout Paris — and some not-so-fascinating stuff, too. I photographed this eclectic little vignette under the light of street lamps: “HI FROM PARIS!”


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

At the Shoreline

At the Shoreline
A peninsula of fractured and worn rocks next to the tidal zone.

At the Shoreline. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A peninsula of fractured and worn rocks next to the tidal zone.

As I wrote in another recent post, what I thought would be a quick visit to this cove turned into a rather longer one. As I started my visit I wasn’t sure that I would photograph here, but once I started looking around I found plenty of interesting subjects. After well over an hour I finally tore myself away to go photograph something else!

The location encompasses a shallow cove lined with rocks, some of which are flat and gradually head under the water, and others that are part of a small peninsula blocking the area from the open ocean. The intertidal zone is full of fascinating things — living creatures, pebbles left behind by the surf, and a pavement of upended strata. In this photograph I backed off some distance and put a long lens on the camera so that I could include the foreground boulders along with a small portion of the flat area and the rocky wall of the peninsula beyond.


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

The White Rock

The White Rock
A solitary white rock, wedged into a gap coastal strata near the tide line.

The White Rock. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A solitary white rock, wedged into a gap between coastal strata near the tide line.

These little Pacific Ocean shoreline scenes fascinate me when I slow down and spend time taking in their details. It is easy to focus on the big landscape and miss them, but they often reward slow, eyes-open wandering with plenty of surprises — colorful rocks, bits of shells, occasional sea critters, and more.

There’s a lot going on in this little scene — more than I can fully understand, much less explain. The underlying rock is stratified and upended, so that the lines of contrasting colors run along the surface, in places carved into curving shapes by the sea. That pile of small rocks in the lower half of the frame includes a remarkable variety of rocks and a few bits of shells and other things washed up from the sea. The rocks are wet, indicating just how close to the waterline I was working. As near as I could tell, the big white rock was the only one like it in this spot, leaving me a bit mystified about its source.


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

Sand Patterns

Sand Patterns
Varied sand patteres on a fold in dunes at Death Valley National Park.

Sand Patterns. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Varied sand patterns on a fold in dunes at Death Valley National Park.

One of the myths about sand dunes is that their features are in motion, being blown across the landscape by winds. The fact that so many features — ripples, waves — remind us of water reinforces the illusion. But here the fluidity is of a largely static sort, and these features tend to remain in much the same place over long periods of time.

The reasons that dunes come into existence begin to be obvious when ou get to know them. They tend to be in windy places where natural features obstruct, divert, and slow the winds, causing them to drop their load of airborne dust and sand. While these broad features are easy to understand, I remain mystified by the smaller scale features like those seen in this “intimate landscape” photograph — the waves, ridges, valleys, drop-offs that also tend to remain fixed.


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.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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