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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Farm, Clearing Fog

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Farm, Clearing Fog
“Farm, Clearing Fog” — Soft morning sunlight comes to a small mountain farm as fog clears.

On this summer morning I headed over the mountains for the coast, planning to drive north from Santa Cruz and photograph foggy coastal scenes. However, it turned out that there was too much fog for what I had in mind, so I had to recalibrate. There are many lonely little roads that run inland from the Pacific Coast Highway, and I decided at random to explore one of them. I headed up a small valley, crossed some hills, and eventually wound through a narrow valley whose bottomlands held this small farm.

Today a lot of agriculture takes place on large corporate farms, especially here in California where the Central Valley is filled with those gigantic agribusiness operations . But if you poke around a bit off the grid, there are still these little farms in quiet little places. I pulled over and quietly watched the morning sun start to break through the thinning fog.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: England, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Eye

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London Eye
“London Eye” — Looking upwards at the London Eye on a cloudy day.

I usually have a good sense of direction, and I can often navigate without maps. But I also have an occasional directional problem. When arriving in a new place I sometimes make an incorrect assumption about the compass directions. Once I do, it is darned near impossible for me to fix it. London is one of the places. For some reason, the first time I visited I reversed north and south, and I’ve struggled since then to get it right. I’ve gotten a lot better — when I look north across the River Thames these days it looks like it is north. But this photograph came about due to the residue of my prior confusion.

When we set out from our lodgings to walk to the nearby Borough Market, I went with my gut instead of logic and headed out confidently in the wrong direction. (To her credit, Patty suspected that I was going the wrong way, but went along.) We walked and walked and instead of finding the Market we were (or I was) surprised to walk up to the London Eye, which is in exactly the opposite direction!

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Bay at Oban

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Bay at Oban
“Bay at Oban” — Looking across the bay at the Scottish town of Oban toward distant highland mountains.

They tell me the weather in Scotland is supposed to be gray, wet, and cold. It was anything but that on the first days of our May visit. (OK, it lived up to expectations a few days later.) For most of our first five days in the country it was pleasantly warm and brightly sunny. Some of the natives seemed grateful that we had brought our California weather along with us. Here in Oban the skies were blue with only a few occasional clouds, and views stretched to distant highland mountains.

Following our first night at a Glasgow Airport hotel after a very late arrival, we took the train to Oban for two days of relaxation and jet lag adjustment. The town was just about perfect for this low key part of the trip. It is a lovely place that sits right on the waterfront — fishermen, tour boats, pleasure craft, and ferries come and go constantly. The whole place was walkable. We visited the Oban Distillery and did a little whisky tasting. And we enjoyed the beautiful panorama of mountains and water.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel

Scottish Forest, Soft Light

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Scottish Forest, Soft Light
“Scottish Forest, Soft Light” — Soft light under thin overcast illuminates Scottish forest on the Great Glen Way.

This sort of terrain was far from typical during our trek along Scotland’s Great Glen Way this past May. We did walk through a lot of forests, but many of them were extremely dense and dark — that sort of forest you might describe as “impenetrable.” We did see moss like this in places, which is not surprise given the Scottish weather. But this sort of green, open forest was a bit of a rarity.

In any case, this open forest was also a surprise when we encountered it. At the start of the day’s hike we had climbed up from flatlands and into open highland terrain with expansive views and a lot of wind! From there we descended back into trees and then traversed along a ridge paralleling Loch Ness. Here the thick trees blocked any open views. But shortly after our lunch stop we came upon this magical, light-filled section of open forest.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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