Tag Archives: travel

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.

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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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral

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Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral
“Light Beam, St. Giles Cathedral”— Light from an upper window forms beams inside St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh.

We concluded our three weeks in Scotland earlier this year with a few days in Edinburgh. This marked one extreme on the continuum of our visit, with the opposite end defined by a week spent walking the quiet trails of the Great Glen Way. Edinburgh, of course, is not just a rather large city, but it is also a place that attracts crowds of tourists, even when we were there before prime tourist season. Since it was our first visit to the city we had to, of course, visit some of the famous sites.

On the day we arrived by train we checked into our little hotel, located on a quiet side street less than a half mile from the famous Edinburgh Castle. After getting settled we set out on foot, walking toward this landmark at the upper end of the Royal Mile. We had not done much research, which means that we got to be surprised by “discovering” places like St. Giles’ Cathedral, the subject of this photograph.

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.

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

New England Woods #8

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New England Woods #8
“New England Woods #8” — Dense New Hampshire forest with colorful fall foliage.

California photographers like me, familiar with the more limited color palette of aspen trees against conifers, are almost overwhelmed by the variation and intensity of autumn colors in New England. I can find all of these colors in the Sierra, but I have to search them out and, even then, some of these colors are relatively rare. But here in New Hampshire the wild colors seemed to on and on.

Photographing here required a bit of an attitude adjustment. I’m used to having to search for the good color. In the Eastern Sierra I look for particular locations, particular groves, and even particular trees. But here in New Hampshire, at least during our visit two years ago, the color seemed to be almost everywhere. Instead of searching out the scattered bits of color, the challenge was to find compositions in the continuous blanket of color.

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.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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