Tag Archives: wire

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures

Metal Shingles and Electrical Wire

October 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Weathered metal shingles and electrical wire on the wall of an abandoned building in the historic Bodie, California ghost town

I’ve visited Bodie a number of times, and I find the history of the place fascinating – from its mining roots up to its gradual death in the 20th Century. That said, and despite the obvious wealth of potential subjects, I’ve had a hard time warming up to it as a photographic subject. It is difficult to get there at the times of day when the light is most interesting, due to the limited hours the state park is open. And the midday light can be very harsh. In addition, it is an increasingly popular tourist attraction, which adds an additional challenge to the photography – unless you are there to photograph the people.

The times when I’ve enjoyed photographing there have almost all been those with “interesting” weather – perhaps some building afternoon thunderstorms, light snow, or possibly rain. Bodie was on our “maybe” list for shooting subjects on this trip – but when we saw clouds and snow along the eastern Sierra on this day we decided to head out there and see if this would add some interest. Once you are in Bodie, certain subjects seem to come to mind – photographing the many old derelict buildings, the overall landscape of the town, the surrounding landscape, the mining equipment and structures. I first focused on the old buildings, but then began to look a bit more at some of the smaller elements, such as this section of a rusted metal shingled wall with a bit of old electrical wire dangling from its side.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Raven on Fence Post

June 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A raven perches on a fence post above cattle ranch pasture, Point Reyes National Seashore

I had not gone to Point Reyes to photograph ravens. In fact, the thought of photographing these birds, which are not exactly high on my list of birds I love to photograph, had not even crossed my mind. I had a half day to do some shooting, so got up three hours before dawn and drove north through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, into Marin County and then over to the coast, hoping to make it all the way out to the tip of Point Reyes to photograph Drakes Bay at sunrise. I didn’t make it quite in time, and instead ended up photographing Tomales Bay as the sun came up. After that I headed out on the road toward the point, but on a whim decided to finally drive up the Mount Vision Road, which I have always passed by on my way to other places. This was in interesting diversion, but after a while I remembered that a group of folks from the Bay Area was going to meet up to photograph the Point Reyes tule elk at around 9:00 a.m.

I figured I might try to join them, even though I haven’t really had that much luck photographing the elk in the area at the north end of the park where they are most easily found. (My best “elk experience” in the park was in a different area where I didn’t even expect to see them.) So I drove back a bit and then out on the road toward where the elk are found – in the area beyond Abbott Lagoon and near Pierce Ranch and McClure Beach. As I started out that road I saw a lot of birds of various sorts, so I stopped and grabbed my camera with the big lens from the trunk and put it on the seat next to me. (Smarter photographers than I probably normally keep such a setup handy while driving!) Sure enough, before long I started passing lots of birds along the road including this cooperative raven, who despite looking a bit nervous when I stopped close enough to make a photograph, stuck around long enough for me to get one shot… before other cars drove up and passed me and scared the bird away.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

China Camp Pier

January 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A decrepit pier extends into San Francisco Bay at China Camp, California

This was my first visit to China Camp, on the shores of the north San Francisco Bay, after several years of thinking about it. I had seen some other photographs from the place and I knew a bit of the history of the old Chinese Camp fishing village and that it had been protected by state park status, but I couldn’t actually point to it on a map. It turned out that a group of photographers was going to visit China Camp during a weekend of shooting around the Bay Area, and I ended up more or less linking up with them.

I arrived before the rest of the group and I began by scoping out a few things for later shots and then photographing a small island that is very close to this old village. Finishing with that subject, I headed down the hill to the cover when the old village buildings are located. This pier is one of the more striking sights in the area, being in a sort of picturesque state of disrepair that has left parts of it leaning at odd angles, further accented by the odd little utility line leading out toward the water. As soon as I arrived at the small beach by the building from which the pier extends, I knew that I wanted to photograph it in a way that included the little building and the pier stretching across the frame toward the horizon, and I was pretty certain that I wanted to render it in black and white. At almost this precise moment the clouds thinned a bit and a bit of soft sunlight shone on the scene, accentuating the shadows on the water – so I quickly went to work and made three exposures of the scene before the light went dull again.

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

Urban Canyons, Evening

July 25, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An urban landscape photographed in evening light, downtown San Francisco.

I spent a couple of days in downtown San Francisco earlier this month, with opportunities to photograph early and late in the day. Late in the afternoon I headed out and down Market street, starting out in less that amazing light but anticipating that things would certainly become more interesting as the evening wore on. On this particular walk I mostly headed to places that I already knew from many previous visits. I have often looked at this building and thought that it held to potential for a photograph that wasn’t just a “shot of the building,” but so far I had not actually come up with on. As I walked along the east side of the structure I saw that the very bright early evening sun was streaming across and between other tall buildings to the west and then past and through the columns in the left side of the frame. I positioned myself so that one of the columns just blocked the direct sun to make this photograph.

While I am perhaps mainly oriented to landscapes, both small and large, in my photography, I really enjoy shooting urban subjects as well. In some ways the experiences are very different – obviously the hustle and bustle of a major metropolitan downtown area feels a lot different from the quiet and solitude of the mountains, desert, or shoreline. But I respond to many of the same things in both places – juxtapositions of shapes, textures, and most important, the light. In the latter context, this photograph is not all that different from, say, one that features light flowing over the peaks of a Sierra ridge and down a canyon to pass between the trunks of trees. It is, after all, the same light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wire

Metal Shingles and Electrical Wire

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Raven on Fence Post

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China Camp Pier

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Urban Canyons, Evening

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

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