Tag Archives: walk

The Shores of Loch Ness

The Shores of Loch Ness
“The Shores of Loch Ness” — Trees grow next to sheep pastures along the shore of Loch Ness near Drumnadrochit, Scotland.

Perhaps you noticed — Patty and I were traveling from mid-May through early June. We spent three weeks in Scotland, followed by a visit to York and London. The main focus of the trip was to complete the “Great Glen Walk,” a weeklong 80 mile trek from Fort William to Inverness. It was, in almost all ways, quite different from our familiar Sierra Nevada pack trips and hikes — the terrain was almost entirely different, and we stayed in various civilized accommodations each night. So civilized, in fact, that they served us breakfast and packed lunches for us!

I made this photograph of the very green Scottish landscape on the second-to-last day of our walk, which ended in Drumnadrochit, very close to Loch Ness. It was a bit of an odd day. For one thing, we hiked this section “in reverse,” starting well north of town and walking back there. It also took us to one of the highest points on the walk, a wild and windy place above timberline. That aside, much of the hike was through lush and green forests, and here through an area of sheep pastures. Stay tuned: there are many more photographs to come!


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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Strolling in Bologna

Strolling in Bologna
“Strolling in Bologna” — Pedestrains stroll along a narrow, curving street in Bologna, italy.

Sometimes my ideas about whether a photograph should be monochromatic or color turn out to be wrong. This street is quite colorful, with paint on the buildings that suggests the sandstone colors of Southwest American canyons. The soft light accentuated this effect and warmed those colors. But the more I worked on the photograph, the more that it seemed a case of “too much.”

In fact, the two central figure also disappear into the detail in the color rendition, and those colors, found throughout the rest of the frame, simply overwhelmed everything else. So gradually, step by step, my idea about how to interpret this scene shifted to thinking of it as monochromatic.


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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Street Scene, Florence

Street Scene, Florence
“Street Scene, Florence” — People walk along a narrow street in Florence, Italy.

There’s a lot happening in this little street vignette, photographed in Florence, Italy in the summer of 2023. You may have to look closely to see. Beyond the woman at the far right is another woman who is rather extensively tattooed. Behind her we see a young man and a fellow in black and a wide-brimmed hat assisting him. What looks like a family is about to disappear around a corner. One of the things that street photography aspires to do is capture these brief, fleeting events that occur spontaneously.

If you have been following along here you know that this photo is a pretty big contrast to the Death Valley photographs that I have been sharing since late March. There are more of those yet to come, but there are still even more of these photographs from our 10-week European adventure in 2023… and it is time to start catching up.


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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Porto Street, Night

Porto Street, Night
Two men walk down a narrow Porto street at night.

Porto Street, Night. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Two men walk down a narrow Porto street at night.

Porto is a fascinating and complex city and there is a lot to see there. But I think that we found the Ribeira District to be the most interesting part. This is the area of narrow, winding streets on the steep hillside above the Duoro River. It is, of course, popular with tourists, especially right above the shoreline of the river. But a short walk from the most busy areas, especially at the right hour of the day, and the crowds can diminish and the ambiance of the district takes over.

We walk a lot when we visit cities, and on this day we made a big loop that took us up this narrow, cobblestone street. We passed through at what seems like an ideal time in terms of light — it was dark enough that the artificial light illuminated and colored the scene, but there was still a bit of ambient light to reveal details outside the light and produce blue-tinted shadows.


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 to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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