Tag Archives: young

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects

De Young Museum, Exterior Detail

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De Young Museum, Exterior Detail - Exterior walls of San Francisco's De Young Museum.
Exterior walls of San Francisco's De Young Museum.

De Young Museum, Exterior Detail. San Francisco, California. March 9, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Exterior walls of San Francisco’s De Young Museum.

In early March I was at San Francisco’s De Young Museum for an event associated with the “San Francisco 1964” exhibit of the photography of Arthur Tress, at which Tress spoke to a small group of San Francisco photographers about his work. (Thank you to Adobe for inviting me and the other photographers. The exhibit continues, and San Francisco Bay Area photography fans and others visiting the area should consider a visit to the show.) Unless I’m heading up there for certain musical performance, I almost always take a camera to The City, and I certainly brought one this time. I mainly photographed Tress during his talk, but once it was over and I left the museum I had a bit of time to wander around and shoot the nearby area.

I started in the Music Concourse, a lowered area in front of the museum that features some ominous-looking dormant trees at this time of year. After finishing there I walked back around the museum to head back to my car, and I passed by this “side” wall of the facility near the tower section of the building. The exterior walls are very interesting. They are apparently constructed of some sort of copper panels that have been “dimpled” in a range of ways that evolve across its surface, and it looks like some of the upper level “walls” are more like screens than solid material. As I understand it, the idea was that this metallic surface would “age” and acquire a patina that might make it blend in more with the natural surroundings of the park. (Though it is hard to imagine that tower blending in!) In the soft light on this shaded side of the building the range of colors and tones in the material was striking, ranging from the blacks of dark shadow areas, to the expected reddish copper tones, to all sorts of blueish shades.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Abstract

Bouquet #1

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Bouquet #1
Bouquet #1

Bouquet #1. San Francisco, California. March 14, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Abstract photograph.

I think I generally prefer to not offer too much explanation about images like this one, and to let you take it for whatever it is.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

Events, Photographers, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: San Francisco

Arthur Tress, De Young Museum

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Arthur Tress, De Young Museum - Photographer Arthur Tress speaks about his photography on March 9, 2012 at his exhibit at the De Young Museum, San Francisco.
Photographer Arthur Tress speaks about his photography on March 9, 2012 at his exhibit at the De Young Museum, San Francisco.

Arthur Tress, De Young Museum. San Francisco, California. March 9, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Arthur Tress speaks about his photography on March 9, 2012 at his exhibit at the De Young Museum, San Francisco.

Last week I was fortunate to be among a small group of San Francisco Bay Area photographers invited by Adobe to attend an event at San Francisco’s De Young Museum in connection with the opening of “San Francisco 1964,” an exhibit of the photography of Arthur Tress. The exhibit includes a large selection of work which, as I understand it, Tress shot as a young man upon his arrival in San Francisco in 1964, the year when both the Republican Convention and the Beatles arrived in The City.

While Tress’s photographs are certainly interesting historically in that they capture many elements, both small and large, that characterize the visual nature of that time, they are also just plain wonderful photographs. Many capture odd and ironic juxtapositions of elements, others focus on the people watching the main events (civil rights demonstrations, etc) taking place in front of them – and some are simply touching recordings of individual people. (One of my favorites, among many, is a haunting but seemingly simple photograph of a young woman sitting at a table.)

If you are a Bay Area photographer or photography aficionado – or even a fan of the history of the Bay Area – I encourage you to visit the De Young to see this show. And, again, thanks to Adobe for giving me the opportunity to see the photographs and, even more, to hear Tress speak about his work. (This photograph of Tress is presented in black and white and in a square format – once you see his show you will understand why… ;-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Wildlife, Photographs: Yosemite

Tree Climbing Lesson

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Tree Climbing Lesson - Two black bear cubs and their mother climb trees in Yosemite National Park, California.
Two black bear cubs and their mother climb trees in Yosemite National Park, California.

Tree Climbing Lesson. Yosemite National Park, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two black bear cubs and their mother climb trees in Yosemite National Park, California.

I was very fortunate to be able to watch this bear family a couple of years ago – and to have a long enough lens to do so without intruding on them. The mother bear seemed to be alternately letting the “kids” play around and do whatever they felt like, and then offering them “climbing lessons” on some of the trees. The cub with black fur seemed the most comfortable at this, quickly scrambling straight up the trunks to surprising heights, moving with agility that reminded me of monkeys. The brown-fur sibling seemed a bit more cautious and “mama” seemed to have to offer a bit of encouragement and support, much as a human parent might do. Her actions at this point reminded me of my own experience with my kids the first time they climbed something (that seemed to them to be) dangerous – I followed close behind with my “front paws” around them, ready to catch if necessary.

While the brown cub initially hesitated quite a bit, before long it also took off and quickly ascended way up in the tree, and before long the whole family was 20 or more feet off the ground.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.