Tag Archives: travel

Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Courtyard, Edinburgh Castle

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Courtyard, Edinburgh Castle
“Courtyard, Edinburgh Castle” — Visitors in a courtyard at Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle dominates the view in the popular, touristy part of Edinburgh — the Old Town and New Town Areas. It is in the former, at the upper end of the “Miracle Mile” that stretches up to it from Holyrood Palace. Yes, it is a tourist attraction now, but it is also a “must see” spot. It comes with a lot of important Scottish history, and it provides great views of much of Edinburgh.

Once you enter the grounds of the castle, your path generally ascends toward the upper structures by following a rough counter-clockwise loop. As you ascend the views become even more striking, particularly in that they now include the structures of the castle itself. I made this photograph from that upper level, looking down and across a courtyard and lower buildings and 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.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England, Photographs: Travel

Carpet of Color

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Carpet of Color
“Carpet of Color” — A nearly unbroken carpet of colorful autumn trees in New Hampshire.

As I have shared New England fall color photographs you may nave noticed that I often contrast that spectacle with my more familiar western aspen groves. One of the main reasons I made this photograph was practical — I wanted to illustrate just how significant that difference is. Aspens in California tend to cluster in relatively small and separate groves. Even the larger groves are typically surrounded by conifers, scrub, or open terrain. In autumn, the effect is often to produce small areas of color set off against areas with little or no fall color.

This photograph illustrates the difference in New England. I made it near a high point on New Hampshire’s “Kancamagus Scenic Byway, ” among the most popular places for viewing East Coast autumn color. You are looking down at a hardwood forest full of different trees of different colors. And the trees shown here are a tiny fraction of the forest that was spread out before me, rising from valleys toward the high ridges — with almost everywhere the same wild blanket of colors.

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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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New England Leaves

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New England Leaves
“New England Leaves” — Close-up photograph of New England autumn leaves, New Hampshire.

This miniature landscape comes from our visit to New England to photograph fall color a couple of years ago. (Wow, has it really been two years?!) With the help of some New England natives who set us straight on timing, we showed up at exactly the peak of color in this area of New Hampshire. More accurately, we arrived a day or two ahead of the peak and left the day after. Yes, it changed that quickly, and on our final morning it was apparent to use that the colors, while still remarkable, were starting their inevitable fade out.

But this photograph came from that peak day or just before. Almost every imaginable autumn color was present that day, I think I managed to squeeze most of them into this photograph of an area measuring not more than a couple of square feet. I’d like to tell a story of how hard I had to search for this scene, but the truth is that colors like this were everywhere — and I made the photograph at the quiet end of a parking lot filled with leaf-peepers.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral

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Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral
“Pipe Organ, St. Giles Cathedral” — The pipe organ at the St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Pipe organs are impressive in many ways. The sound is remarkable, especially in appropriate acoustical spaces. (It must be quite an experience for the lone musician to make that much sound, at volumes that can compete with full symphony orchestras.) The visual appearance is compelling and somewhat magical. But there’s another aspect that has long impressed me. Back in my college music teaching days, I used to point out to classes that early versions of the organ were entirely mechanical — and that it is just about impossible to imagine a more complex and sophisticated technology from that era. And it was all for a musical instrument!

This set of pipes belongs to the organ at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where we stayed for several days earlier this year. Sometimes we have only the vaguest notions of what we’ll see in the cities we visit — and sometime I’ll explain why that occasionally is a good thing. In that manner we essentially stumbled into St. Giles’ on our first afternoon in Edinburgh and found it entrancing.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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