Tag Archives: wall

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

Succulent Plant Growing on Rock

April 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Black and white photograph of a single succulent plant growing on an almost barren rock face at Castle Rock State Park, California.

I wish I had a better title for this photograph, but I’m afraid that I am not expert at plant identification. (Yes, I’m hoping that someone who knows about these things will offer an identification – I’ll change the title to reflect this. Thanks in advance!)

(Update: “Thank you!” to Gena and Guy who suggest that it is a type of stonecrop. That makes sense to me.)

On this warm spring-like morning I hiked at Castle Rock State Park along the summit ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains – this was my first hike of the season on which it actually felt like spring rather than winter. (It has been a wet winter here in the San Francisco Bay Area.) As I passed over a rocky section of the trail to Goat Rock I paused to think about photographing some ferns and wildflowers that were growing against the base of a small rock face. I didn’t find anything along those lines worth photographing, but I did spot this single specimen of some sort of small succulent plant growing out of seemingly nothing in the middle of the rock face. The plant’s location was so improbable that I stopped and looked around for another of the same type, but this seemed to be the only one.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 105mm
ISO 100, f/16, 2 seconds

keywords: black and white, monochrome, single, succulent, plant, leaf, pointed, spring, season, cliff, wall, moss, lichen, trail, hike, castle rock, state, park, california, usa, north america, nature, flora, vegetation, barren, face, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Rhyolite Bank Ruins, Full Moon Light

April 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The light of the rising full moon illuminates the ruins of the old bank building against a star-filled sky in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.

I have photographed the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada on several occasions in the past, but always in the very early morning. (I have a habit of hitting Rhyolite before dawn, shooting as long as the light allows, visiting Beatty for cheap gas and breakfast, then heading back to Death Valley via Titus Canyon.) I have wanted to try photographing the location both at sunset and under a full moon, and the timing for both worked out on my late March visit to Death Valley National Park. Late on my second afternoon I headed east out of the Valley and over the pass and arrived at Rhyolite before sunset.

I spent some time wandering around the familiar locations in the unfamiliar late-day light. In the end, my suspicion that Rhyolite is more of an early morning location than an evening location seemed to be confirmed. At this time of year the sun sets a bit too far to the “right” as you look west, and the the light is blocked by a low hill at just the time it would otherwise become interesting. I did make some photographs of the ruins of the ghost town in the fading light… then I settled in to make a few night photographs of the tall bank building ruins.

I’m thinking of this as sort of a practice run for a return visit for more Rhyolite night photography. I think that the full moon timing has potential, but I want to try again and think more about the placement of the structures relative to the North Star. One more thing… when I arrived there was essentially no one else there. Soon a couple other photographers showed up, but the place was still relatively deserted. Then, after dark, I was surprised when a number of cars showed up. There was apparently some sort of night photography workshop visiting the place – perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that they acted like they owned the place and that the rest of us didn’t matter. Most night photographers would know better than to drive into a shooting location with headlights blazing, and they might ask photographers who were already there if their light painting would interfere with shots underway. Just sayin’…

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM at 22mm
ISO 200, f/11, 432 seconds

keywords: death valley, national, park, nevada usa, north america, scenic, travel, nature, desert, full, moon, light, rising, rhyolite, ghost, town, ruins, abandoned, weathered, column, bank, building, wall, window, sky, star, trail, night, nocturnal, photography, shadow, historic, mining, stock

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

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon

April 9, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A hiker pauses below the bridge in Natural Bridge Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California.

I visited this canyon and its natural bridge on my late-March visit to Death Valley. The Nature Bridge canyon is located just a bit north of Badwater, and after a short drive up the alluvial fan to the trailhead it is an easy hike up an impressively narrow and deep canyon to the large, blocky bridge. I like to save the canyons for mid-morning or late-afternoon shooting, since the light here can actually improve a bit further away from the sunrise/sunset edges of the day – the direct light is block by the tall canyon walls.

This canyon is narrow, but not as narrow as some of the other popular canyons with trails such as Mosaic Canyon, in which there a spots where two people cannot pass. Compared to that this canyon is much wider in most spots, perhaps 20 feet or more in places. Nonetheless the vertical and tall walls of the lower section of the canyon block out most of the sky and give a feeling of being somewhat closed in.

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.

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

Painted Brick Walls

March 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green and pink painted brick walls in San Francisco, California.

Several things catch my eye about this little scene: the contrast between the sharply defined monochromatic green bricks on the left and the wildly pink and badly painted bricks on the right, the old light fixture with its small shadow, the almost completely black line in the middle of the image where the two buildings don’t quite meet, the sliver of blue sky near the top of this shadowed area, and the very stark and harsh light.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/400 second

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, north america, travel, urban, downtown, city, street, brick, wall, pattern, structure, architecture, light, lamp, pink, green paint, geometric, shadow, tenderloin, stock

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