Tag Archives: wall

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

West-Facing Wall

Image August 6, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunset light floods a west-facing bowl above a high Yosemite backcouintry lake.

In the recent series of panoramic photographs from the Yosemite backcountry and a follow-up photograph in a more typical orientation, I mentioned this location and its extraordinary exposure to the western sky. Among backcountry locations with which I’m familiar, this one is perhaps the most reliable at producing beautiful sunset light and alpenglow.

For this photograph I decided to simply compose straight on, looking right at the upper (and east) side of the bowl. Even though peak sunset color has not yet quite arrived, the entire cliff face is washed with this warmly-colorful light.

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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Zeum, Architectural Detail

Image July 20, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A San Francisco view from the Zeum on a blue sky day.

Recently I have leaned on a Minor White quote more than once: “One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are.” I’ve always taken this to be about photography’s burden of “capturing the real world,” how limiting that goal may be, and how photographs can be seen in other ways. It is almost always worth asking about a photograph, “Beyond what this is, what is it?”

This is, obviously, a photograph of a bit of architecture in San Francisco, a place called “The Zeum.” I’ve wandered through it many times while on San Francisco photography walks. An incomplete list of the “what else it is” in this photograph could include some of the following. It is about color and light and shadow. It is about perspective and angles and lines. It is about that sky and that single cloud. Perhaps you can think of other things?

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Zigaretten

Image June 23, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cigarette vending machine along a street near Heidelberg, Germany.

I cannot say if these things are still around in Germany, but they were back in 2016, much to my surprise. (I haven’t seen anything like them in the USA in years.) This is another “rediscovered” photograph that I came across while going through older files. One side effect of that is that I’m not quite exactly sure where I made the photograph! I think it was in a small village up the Neckar River from Heidelberg.

One challenge that I like to play with is making photographs out of subjects that seem superficially very mundane, here a vending machine attached to a wall. But there are a few layers of “what else” this photograph is. I contend that the play of light and shadow is both compositionally interesting and actually kind of “pretty.” And the subject itself makes me think about how times have changed from when I was younger and smoking was ubiquitous.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sortie de Garage

Image June 22, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Garage, doors, windows, and wall along a narrow Paris street.

I am hopeful that you’ll indulge my recent and continuing thread of photographs from one small area of Paris, photographs made on a single walk about a half-dozen years ago. A return to one photograph from this day led me to reconsider a bunch of photographs that I had almost forgotten, and I’ve been enjoying this “virtual trip” back to that day in Paris.

I understand that a traditional notion of street photography is that it focuses on catching people doing what they do “in the streets” of an urban area. My idea of street photography is a bit broader, encompassing not just human activity, but also architecture and the overall urban landscape. I’m fascinated by doors and windows and walls, and there are always little unexpected details to see. In this photograph, one of them is the small sign that provided the title. Another is the contrast between the simple, square forms on the main building and the elaborate decoration on the visible bit of the building to the left.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wall

West-Facing Wall

Zeum, Architectural Detail

Zigaretten

Sortie de Garage

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