Tag Archives: wall

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

Wall and Shadows, Interior Detail

December 2, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photograph of shadowed wall in a sunlit interior space with diagonal forms in downtown San Francisco.

For better or worse, I almost never discard my RAW files – I have tens of thousands of them on my hard drives. The way I look at it, hard drives storage space is cheap, and I know that I occasionally find an interesting photograph among some of the older stuff. This week I’ve been dealing with “computer issues” – installing a new hard drive, changing my backup strategy, and giving the Lightroom beta a try. Setting up Lightroom involved importing tens of thousands of images into that program’s environment, and along the way I saw some older stuff appear including a series of photographs I made while walking around in San Francisco three years ago. I remember being interested in this one back then, but it simply fell off the “to do” list as I worked on other things.

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.

keywords: wall, window, board, diagonal, light, shadow, reflection, shape, structure, interior, building, downtown, san francisco, california, usa, architecture, vertical, horizontal, urban, street, city, travel, form, detail, stock

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

Glacier Point Geology Hut, Early Morning Light

November 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Early morning light on the Glacier Point Geology Hut, Yosemite National Park, California.

I love photographing at Glacier Point just before and right around sunrise. Despite the challenge of shooting into the bright sky and rising sun to the east, several subjects here can be compelling in the early morning: the first light striking Mt. Hoffman, light beams coming over the Sierra crest, and especially the very first direct light to strike the trees along the ridge at Glacier Point and open to the light from the east. Not only that, but if you go at the right time you have have the whole place nearly or entirely to yourself. I often go there when I visit in autumn and a quiet November morning there is very special.

I had more or less “worked the scene” of the first light hitting Hoffman, North Dome and surrounding peaks before I made this photograph. I basically turned my camera around to point the opposite direction and repositioned the tripod a bit to frame this stone building and include the light on its eastern face.

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.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, ridge, valley, forest, rock, granite, stone, geology, hut, building, fence, railing, roof, wall, morning, light, dawn, early, glacier, point, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, shadow, door, window, arch, tree, bush, black and white, monochrome, stock, sky

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

Fall Foliage, Yosemite Valley

November 9, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall color in a meadow near Yosemite Falls – Yosemite Valley, California.

I decided to push the boundaries of “ideal shooting time” on this one – it was made less than an hour before noon in midday light that might often have me starting to take my midday break. I think two things made it possible to shoot this subject in this somewhat difficult light. First, the light coming through the leaves of these black oaks (and to some extent the cottonwoods in the distance) creates an effect that it not typical of midday shooting. Secondly, the deeply shaded cliff walls along the south side of The Valley gave me a background that was not harshly lit. (The bright grasses in the meadow were a bit tough, but I think they are under control here.)

It might surprise some to find out that this landscape image was made using a relatively long lens – a 70-200mm zoom at about 130mm. Here it helped me control the composition – making the trees seem a bit closer to one another and affecting the area of the cliff seen beyond.

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.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, autumn, fall, season, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, california, color, yellow, gold, green, orange, brown, golden, meadow, grass, black, oak, pine, cottonwood, tree, grove, forest, cliff, rock, wall, village, falls, foliage, stock

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

Fall Color, Leidig Meadow

November 6, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall colors of grasses, bushes, and trees along the edge of Liedig Meadow and the Merced River with cliff walls in the background, Yosemite Valley.

Yes, I’m still working Leidig Meadow… As I wrote earlier, I love the low autumn backlight and early November colors of trees and meadow at this location in Yosemite Valley. In fact I shot here on both afternoons during my visit on October 31 and November 1. Here the trees are roughly sidelight by light coming up the canyon from the west, and the light is aleady gone from the tall cliffs across the Valley and just to the west of Yosemite Falls.

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.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, autumn, fall, season, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, california, cottonwood, tree, grove, bush, meadow, grass, brown, golden, leidig, meadow, merced, river, bank, trunk, branch, limb, leaf, leaves, silhouette, cliff, wall, afternoon, light, stock

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