Tag Archives: woman

Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman on Sunny Bench

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Woman on Sunny Bench
A woman sits on a sunny bench in winter light, Pasadena

Woman on Sunny Bench. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman sits on a sunny bench in winter light, Pasadena

We were in Southern California for a family event, staying in Pasadena and filling the open time with various activities — visiting other family members, looking for good places to eat, driving around, hitting a few sights, and walking around in several local communities including Pasadena.

To this Northern California native, there is something a bit strange about Southern California winter, or at least the experiences I have had with it. In my part of the state a typical winter day might be sunny or possibly rainy, with cool to cold nighttime temperatures and cool to moderate daytime temperatures. A truly warm day is a rarity, though there may be some warm hours on a day that is overall cool. But when we travel to Southern California at this time of year we often encounter weather that is actually hot. We did so on this trip, and as we walked along a Pasadena street I made this photograph of a woman in warm weather attire sitting on a bench and soaking up the sunshine… on January 6th.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape

Hiker, Desert Canyon, Natural Bridge

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Hiker, Desert Canyon, Natural Bridge
A hiker passes under a natural bridge in a Death Valley National Park canyon

Hiker, Desert Canyon, Natural Bridge. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A hiker passes under a natural bridge in a Death Valley National Park canyon

Timing seems to matter a lot when photographing and hiking in Death Valley. A whole range of factors come into play: distances between locations, times of day with best light, concerns about temperature, and so on. Over the years I have come up with the rough outlines of a daily schedule — which I frequently violate! — to adapt to the general patterns. I usually start the day with a pre-dawn and sunrise location, and then move to a second early to mid morning place. In many cases I take a midday break — when camping I use this to lounge around camp, eat, nap, or else to drive to more distant spots — Then there is often an afternoon location, followed by a sunset and early evening spot. The dawn and sunset angle is probably obvious to most readers, but what about the mid-morning and afternoon spots? These are often in canyons, which can be a bit too dark at the edges of the day, but which often get nice light a bit after sunrise and before sunset. Bonus benefit: they produce shade during hot parts of the day.

On this day we were using this plan, so we took a mid-morning hike up this narrow canyon, enjoying the opportunities to escape the direct sun and the beautiful light in the bottom of the canyon, as it bounced down from above and between the canyon walls. Here a hiker (my wife Patty) went ahead of me beneath this big natural bridge and headed on towards the mouth of the canyon not far beyond.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

La Pierrade, Evening

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La Pierrade, Evening
The sidewalk and street in front of La Pierrade, Montmartre, Paris.

La Pierrade, Evening. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The sidewalk and street in front of La Pierrade, Montmartre, Paris.

I made this photograph on, literally, our first night in France ever. (Yes, we are late-bloomers when it comes to international travel. That’s a long story involving finances, bringing up a family, strong interest in visiting other places, and more.) We had been in London for over a week — not our first visit there — and had arrived in Paris by train in the afternoon, finding out way to our hotel in Montmartre, unpacking, and then deciding it was time to head out and explore. (Here I could tell another funny story on us, involving our discovery that you can get an espresso just about anywhere in this part of Paris, but I’ll save that one for another time, too.)

When we went out we had several goals. One was testing our ability to navigate in a city whose language we do not speak. (It was fine.) Another was to start to get a fix on the surrounding neighborhood. A third, and may be most important, was to find something to eat! That’s hardly a problem in Montmartre, though deciding which place to patronize was challenging. At the intersection where I made this photograph we finally picked one and enjoyed a simple meal outdoors. Whether this is visible in this small online photograph or not is a question, but there are some interesting interactions going on among the people in this nighttime sidewalk scene.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tortaria

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Tortaria
A woman walks past a Manhattan tortaria with a red pickup truck parked in front.

Tortaria. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past a Manhattan tortaria with a red pickup truck parked in front.

I made this photograph about four years ago, and the brief tale of how emerged now is perhaps worth telling. Recently I was involved in a discussion of tilt/shift lenses. Part of the discussion drifted to image changes that could be made in post-processing rather than by using shift to correct converging perspective lines. I went looking for example files I could use, especially those that might have been shot with a very wide lens and in need of correction. I figured that urban photographs would provide good examples, so I started digging into my New York raw files. Eventually I ended up back in 2014… and to my surprise I found a group of images that I had almost completely forgotten about and which I never finished reviewing and processing.

Four years later I don’t even remember making this photograph, nor do I remember the location. (I could figure it out easily enough.) I’m betting that the initial attraction was to the contrast between the bright red pickup truck (and all of the things that it can symbolize) and the teal-colored front of the Tortaria. It may have been good fortune that the woman walked into the left side of the frame at this moment. I like the juxtaposition of the red and green-blue colors and the potential cultural and other symbolism of the big, red pickup truck.

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