Tag Archives: twisting

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hotel, Narrow Street

February 10, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Out for an afternoon walk on our last full day in Florence, Italy on this visit, we kept walking as night arrived. We only had a few days here at the end of a long trip, so we were trying to make the most of a short stay. Our hotel was in the old section of the Florence, so we could walk out the front door onto one of the very narrow old streets and head off in any direction and find interesting things.

At this point, nearly a half-year later, I can’t remember precisely where I made this photograph, though it may have been roughly in the neighborhood between our hotel and Duomo. There were a lot of people out walking on this warm evening, and many of my other photographs of this street included pedestrians and cyclists, but I think I ended up liking this deserted view with the street winding past the backwards “hotel” sign and then curving out of view.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Levee Road and Trees

January 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pond reflects trees in foggy morning light along a twisting San Joaquin Valley levee road

This photograph is from my New Year’s Day visit to the San Joaquin Valley, where I went to greet the dawn in the company of thousands of migratory birds and a couple of good friends. After arriving home from the east coast the previous night at about 11:00 and getting to bed after midnight, I arose before 4:00 AM and headed off to the valley. Despite the sleep deprivation, it helped a bit to remind myself that it was already 7:00 AM back in New York, where I had spent the previous week – but only a bit. I arrived before dawn to meet my friends Dave and Charlotte, and we quickly went to work photographing the birds and the early and misty environment of this marshland area.

Shortly after the sun rose I headed out along this road that follows the contours of the levees separating the various ponds. Mostly they travel in relatively straight lines, but here the track takes a winding course among stands of cottonwood trees. When I stopped to look around a bit I glanced back and saw this pattern, with the early light on the vegetation and the slight fog causing colors and contrast to fade into the distance.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Hikers, Titus Canyon

November 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hikers in Titus Canyon, Death Valley National Park.

There are essentially two ways to get to this portion of Titus Canyon in Death Valley National Park – you can either do a very long drive from near Beatty on gravel roads or you can walk a short distance up from the base of the canyon along the eastern side of Death Valley itself. I’ve done both. The road is quite an experience – in any other park it would probably be regarded as a very special thing, especially the last portion above Death Valley where it twists and turns down a slot canyon that is in places barely wide enough to a vehicle yet so tall that it can be hard to see the tops of the canyon walls. (It is not exactly a bad road, but it isn’t trivial either. There are some very exposed sections where it crosses the mountain ridge and descends past Leadville. Although there are reports of people using lesser vehicles, take seriously the recommendations for reasonably high ground clearance and some from of all-wheel drive.)

However, on this visit I simply parked my car at the base of the canyon, shouldered my camera equipment, and walked up the canyon a ways. There is, of course, much that you probably won’t see if you enter the canyon this way, largely because the road is so long that you won’t likely cover much of it on foot. However, I think that you can more clearly sense the scale of the lower slot canyon when traveling of foot. I included two hikers who happened by to give a sense of that scale to the landscape.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cascade Creek Spring Torrent

June 2, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small tree stands in the raging spring torrent of Cascade Creek, Yosemite National Park.

This may be the final photograph in this series I shot in early May when I visited this seasonal cascade on the way into Yosemite Valley. Compared to some of the others this one takes in a larger portion of the scene, mainly so that I could include the little leafless tree or bush at the lower left, as it stands against the tremendous force of the rushing water descending steeply among the rocks.

This creek is fed by seasonal snow melt fairly early in the season because the ares that feed its flow are at a relatively lower elevation. For a while each year, but especially in a wet year like this one, this little creek rages as it drops precipitously down this narrow canyon towards a point below where it flows into the Merced River. A bridge provides an interesting vantage point from which to shoot almost directly down into the torrent.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.