Tag Archives: yellow

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

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

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Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways

Psychedelic San Francisco Doorways. San Francisco, California. August 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of very brightly painted yet terribly dilapidated doorways near the border of Chinatown and North Beach, San Francisco, California.

A question: If you are wandering about in The City (or the city ;-)  and carrying a camera, how can you not photograph something like this?

These wildly painted yet badly dilapidated doors are on a relatively nondescript street more or less along the boundary between Chinatown and North Beach.

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

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keywords: bright, color, yellow, gold, red, blue, aqua, psychedelic, doors, two, pair, window, run down, dilapidated, worn, paint, glass, mail, slot, knob, lock, 1432, 1430, arch, doorway, entrance, wall, purple, peeling, flag, decal, tile, step, mat, frame, crack, north beach, chinatown, urban, downtown, street, san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, local, sidewalk, gaudy, stock

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

Summer Grass, Calero Hills

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Summer Grass, Calero Hills

Summer Grass, Calero Hills. Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dry summer grasses growing near Castillero Pond at the Calero Hills, California.

In this photograph – yes, from the same series from Castillero Pond – I wanted to isolate the light colored grass seeds from the background, and try to reveal the very delicate stems of the grass and other dry plants. The background was essentially the same color as these subjects and was also terribly detailed – so I used a very narrow depth of field to reduce the background detail to an amorphous blur. Although it might not seem like your typical macro lens, I photographed this with a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm!

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, plant, dry, brown, golden, yellow, twig, stick, stem, seed, pod, bokeh, blur, background, tall, thin, stock

Photographs: Nature

Detail, Summer Grasses

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Detail, Summer Grasses

Detail, Summer Grasses. Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Close-up photograph of summer grasses growing at Castillero Pond, California.

A second photo in the sequence I made on this morning at Castillero Pond in the Calero Hills oak/grassland in northern California. (The terrain and plants are typical of vast areas of central California as well.) These large grasses were growing along the edge of the pond. Unlike most of the grasses, which by now have gone completely dry in California, there were still mostly green since they had the pond as a source of moisture.

I made what might strike some as an odd lens choice for this series. Virtually all of them were shot with a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm. The idea was to get a very narrow depth of field and then throw both foreground and background way out of focus. Sometimes people think that the only way to do this is by using lenses with very large aperture, but an equally (and in some cases more) effective method is to use a very long focal length. This can provide even nicer bokeh than the large aperture approach in many cases.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, macro, close-up, stem, twig, blade, green, brown, yellow, shadow, bokeh, dense, texture, curve, pattern, dry, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Cattails, Morning Light

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Cattails, Morning Light

Cattails, Morning Light. Calero Hills, California. August 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Summer cattails in morning light at Castillero Pond, Calero Hills, California.

OK, this time no alpine scene from high meadows near the crest of the Sierra – instead a cattail growing along the bank of a small pond perhaps ten miles from my home at a place where I frequently hike. This morning I decided to get up early and head out here with no particular photographic goal in mind. When I arrived at the pond I thought I might photograph some birds – in fact, I just missed photographing my local egret, which flew away just as I was getting out my camera. So, instead of photographing the birds – and instead of continuing on for a longer morning hike – I spent more than an hour here photographing the cattails and patterns of summer grasses in the morning light.

Yesterday I visited SF MOMA to see two photographic shows – the photographs of Richard Avedon in one and the photographs of Ansel Adams and paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe in the other. As I looked at the out of focuse patterns of grasses, such as those in the background of this photograph, I thought about the colors and patterns of the O’Keeffe paintings.

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

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: calero, hills, santa clara, county, park, morning, summer, grass, flora, pond, castillero, plant, nature, california, usa, light, blue, gold, brown, yellow, green, bokeh, stalk, seed, stock