Tag Archives: travel

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean

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Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean
“Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean” — Point Sur is silhouetted against the brilliantly bright sunlit ocean

Point Sur is one of the most striking landmarks along the rugged Big Sur coastline south of Monterey, California. There is plenty of striking and remarkable seascape and landscape here, but this feature is pretty much unique. It consists of a rocky, rounded hill right at the edge of the ocean, and it is (barely) connected to the mainland by a narrow, sandy peninsula. (I often wonder how many times the peninsula has been overridden by tsunami waves over the millennia.)

The spot also has a long human history. Over a century ago a lighthouse was established on Point Sur, and since it was so isolated — there was no Pacific Coast Highway back then — the residents had to be essentially self-reliant. The lighthouse workers were let go decades ago when automated lights replaced the old lighthouses, but the place is still there and much of it has been restored. I am in the area often, but the view changes a lot, and this time I photographed it from hills to the north as giant waves approached the coast and the brilliant sun glinted on the surface of the Pacific Ocean

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Netherlands, Photographs: Travel

Canal, Cloudy Sky

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Canal, Cloudy Sky
The sun shines through cloudy skies to light up an Amsterdam canal and nearby buildings

Canal, Cloudy Sky. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The sun shines through cloudy skies to light up an Amsterdam canal and nearby buildings

I don’t think the sky was ever entirely clear during our four days in Amsterdam, but I was told by locals that this is pretty typical. In fact, based on what I was told, we were perhaps lucky to have as much blue sky as we did get! It rained the day we arrived, it was cloudy on most days, and that first day wasn’t the only rainy one.

I’ve observed that sunlight is often even more beautiful in places where it can’t be take for granted. I first understood this some years ago on a visit to Seattle, a place that is frequently also cloudy, wet, and gray. On the visit in question there was a period of beautiful, eighty-degree days of sunshine… and it seemed like every person in Seattle was suddenly outside. This day in Amsterdam wasn’t quite that extraordinary, but the filtered sunlight on the row of buildings along this canal seemed quite attractive.

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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: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Doorway, Heidelberg

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Doorway, Heidelberg
A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

Doorway, Heidelberg. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A graffiti-covered doorway on a narrow Heidelberg street

To the extent that a photograph can be “about” things — I tend to think that a photograph “is” a thing — this one is perhaps about my obsession with geometries, about light, and about the door, with its graffiti, and what that might tell us about the door and how people here treat this “street art.” And by “about” I don’t necessarily mean that it tells us about these things — more that it may be about questions raised by such things.

The doorway is on a back street in the old part of Heidelberg, where we wandered on an August day earlier this year. These colors and this sort of paint and decoration seem fairly characteristic of this area. As we walked, the left side of the street was in shadow and the right was struck obliquely by sunlight that was somewhat softened by hazy cloudiness. Without that filtering the light would likely have been almost to stark for the photograph. Here I notice, as I did with an earlier photograph from Amsterdam, that there seem to be some “rules” constraining the application of the graffiti. It is on the door but not, for the most part, on the walls. Oddly, it all seems to be in black or other very dark colors. (I actually wonder if it was created by the people who live/work in this building.)

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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

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

Photographs: Netherlands, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Garage

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Garage
Garage, Amsterdam

Garage. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Garage, Amsterdam

With some photographs I find it hard to explain what provoked me to stop and make and exposure, or even why I like it. Since not everything can be explained — though I may try! — I’ll share them anyway on many occasions. This is one of those images. We were walking quickly through a section of Amsterdam with very narrow streets when we passed this closed garage. At that moment I had the camera out and was photographing quite a bit… and this became one of the subjects.

There is something about the clean and simple patterns of the door, the stark contrast between very dark and very light tones, and the very simple sign above the door. In a world where such a business would more often have signage including a more lengthy and complex business name, plus descriptive text and probably things like phone numbers… this one simply states, “GARAGE.”

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

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