Tag Archives: trees

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

Dusk, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Tuolumne Meadows

Leave a comment
Dusk, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Tuolumne Meadows

Dusk, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Tuolumne Meadows. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Glowing lenticular cloud formations above alpenglow-illuminated Mounts Dana and Gibbs and the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park, California.

From mid-July through the first week of September, Tuolumne Meadows is a very popular high Sierra destination in Yosemite National Park. The meadows, which are much more extensive than drive-through visitors know, comprise one of the largset and most spectacular examples of sub-alpine meadows and are surrounded by spectacular high peaks including some, like Mounts Dana and Gibbs, that sit on the crest of the Sierra Nevada range.

Several thousand people camp at Tuolumne every evening, and after dinner many of them sit around their campsites and engage in the ritual burning of wood and other camping activities. Meanwhile, a five minute walk from the campground, a handful of people sit or stand alone or in small groups along the edge of the huge sub-alpine meadow or along the Tuolumne River and wait for magic to happen. On this evening in early July there couldn’t have been more than 30-40 people in the meadow with more near their cars along the roadway. And on this evening the magic did happen.

I feel sorry for those folks in the campground who had no idea of the sublime scene taking place mere steps away.

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams

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: yosemite, national, park, california, usa, sierra nevada, summer, tuolumne, tioga, river, mount, dana, gibbs, bar, bank, meaadow, forest, trees, lenticular, clouds, formations, pink, blue, gray, sunset, dusk, evening, lembert dome, reflection, rocks, water, sky, alpenglow, snow, peak, mountain, landscape, travel, scenic, stock

Commentary

Three Columns and Urban Trees

Leave a comment
Three Columns and Urban Trees

Three Columns and Urban Trees. San Francisco, California. July 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three columns and trees in an urban garden in downtown San Francisco, California.

This photograph was made while I was on one of my “walk and photograph” trips into downtown San Francisco. At this point I was wandering through a very busy, urbanized section of downtown San Francisco with my camera at the ready. As I rounded a corner of a building I spotted this scene with interesting morning light and a single person mostly hidden behind one of the columns below the trees reading a book. I quickly squeezed off two frames before a car entered the scene from a garage exit below the trees and other pedestrians began walking through.

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: san francisco, california, usa, summer, city, urban, travel, moring, brick, tile, column, three, sidewalk, cement, concrete, light, shadow, wall, person, book, read, sit, green, trees, leaves, branch, trunk, building, urban, downtown, street, wet, water, stock, feet, legs, shoes

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pigeon, Yerba Buena Gardens Fountain, Buildings

Leave a comment
Pigeon, Yerba Buena Gardens Fountain, Buildings

Pigeon, Yerba Buena Gardens Fountain, Buildings. San Francisco, California, July 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pigeon alights at the edge of a fountain/pond at Yerba Buena gardens downtown San Francisco buildings beyond.

I photographed this on my first “San Francisco Photo Walk” of this summer season. The routine is that I catch a very early train to San Francisco, arriving in the city a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. Then, depending upon the weather and other factors, I wander off somewhere in The City looking for photographs. On this day I started with a ramble up The Embarcadero, photographing the South Beach yacht harbor, a old guy standing in the doorway of the Java Hut, a bunch of interesting old dilapidated waterfront structures and so forth as I walked. Once I reached the Ferry Building I headed up into The City, finally heading south toward the train station by way of Yerba Buena Gardens. I stopped here to photograph the main grassy area when I spotted this pigeon at the end of an elevated pond in which the distant buildings were reflected.

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: san francisco, california, usa, summer, city, urban, travel, church, steeple, brick, cathedral, pigeon, bird, wings, flight, stretch, water, fountain, reflection, yerba buena, garden, trees, metreon, marriott, fog, sky, skyline, downtown, city, urban, hotel, pond, landscape, stock

Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Chairs and Terrace, Olympic Sculpture Park

Leave a comment
Chairs and Terrace, Olympic Sculpture Park

Chairs and Terrace, Olympic Sculpture Park. Seattle, Washington. June 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red-orange chairs on a terraced lawn above Richard Serra’s Wake with downtown Seattle buildings beyond, Olympic Sculpture Park.

This is another quick photograph from my half-hour visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle last weekend. I’m fascinated by the large sculpture at the lower end of the terrace (“Wake” by Richard Serra) and I have photographed it before. This time I thought that the juxtaposition of the red-orange chairs (positioned more or less at random by other visitors, I presume), the very green grass, the slightly overhead view of the sculpture, and the cylindrical building beyond was interesting. There is a lot more detail in this photograph than is apparent in the small jpg – obviously the grass detail is not really visible here, and there are some people standing along the green area at the upper left side of the frame. I also thought about positioning the chairs slightly off center to the right, the sculpture slightly off center to the left, and the massive building dead center over all the other elements.

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: olympic, sculpture, park, seattle, art, museum, sam, red, orange, green, chairs, lawn, terrace, concrete, cement, sand, trees, plants, garden, wall, grove, wake, richard serra, metal, rust, sky, cloud, blue, cylinder, round, building, downtown, urban, washington, usa, travel, apartment, grass, stock