Images

Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Fabric

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Fabric
Colorful pieces of fabric photographed in a Southern California market.

Fabric. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful pieces of fabric photographed in a Southern California market.

This photograph comes from a visit to a collection of craft stores at a San Diego location a few years ago. We were there on a family visit, but I rarely go anywhere without carrying a camera, and it was impossible to resist stopping to photograph these beautiful and wildly colorful bits of fabric at one of the shops.

Here in California these images and these colors are a part of our culture. That, of course, should be no surprise at all in a state where it is hard to travel more than a few miles without passing through a town or a county with a Spanish-language name: San Francisco, Merced, Los Angeles, and… San Diego.

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: Nature

Winter Reeds

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Winter Reeds
Early winter wetland reeds transition from green to yellow to brown.

Winter Reeds. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early winter wetland reeds transition from green to yellow to brown.

These reed thickets grow in all sorts of wetland areas in my “neck of the woods” — in and around ponds, along creeks, and so forth — forming a sort of living landscape that changes continuously throughout the year from season to season. I photographed these during the first week of winter, when they were well other along in the transition to their dormant season but still with some green plants among them.

The reeds are a habitat for all kinds of wetland creatures, perhaps because they provide some shelter and protection from predators. When I think of these places, my main association has to do with the little redwing and tricolor blackbirds that are often found among them. At times flocks of them collect on the highest branches, producing a wild cacophony of bird song, and then retreat into the thicket when anyone or anything threatening approaches..

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: Birds, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Crane Quartet, Fog

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Crane Quartet, Fog
“Crane Quartet, Fog” — Four sandhill cranes walk through shallow water in front of a larger flock on a very foggy morning.

As you can imagine, quiet and lonely places have their practical appeal these days. If I’m going out to photograph, especially if I’m driving somewhere, right now I tend to pick a time and place where there won’t be a lot of other people. Out in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a long pre-dawn drive in incredibly dense tule fog seems to do the trick quite nicely!

I’ve often wondered what it must be like to be a bird in a place such as this where the tule fog frequently forms in the winter. This fog is usually not very deep, and I’ve driven through tule fog so thick I could barely see the roadway, but if I looked up I could see stars and morning clouds overhead. I would think that these birds could easily lift off and emerge into sunshine on such a morning.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Urban/Street

Dog, Pot, and Shoe

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Dog, Pot, and Shoe
A small scene at a reflecting pool.

Dog, Pot, and Shoe. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small scene at a reflecting pool.

Yes, you can check for yourself. There is a dog. And a shoe. And in the distance a large pot. Image the photograph in San Diego a few years ago. Oddly, I don’t remember making it now.

Recently I was pondering various odd ideas that people hold about photography. Among them is the idea that Real Photographers™ always know before they activate the shutter exactly what the final photograph is look like, that they are utterly certain that is will work perfectly, and that every photograph is made this way. That is, of course, utter nonsense. The truth is that for every decent photograph there are many less successful attempts and often quite a few failures. It is also true that in most arts creativity involves a certain amount of “play” — of trying things to see how they work. Creativity is (and this seems so obvious that I’m almost embarrassed to write it) also an iterative process, where the first attempt is almost never the best one, and good ideas often start out rather weakly. (I make no promises, however, about the future of photographs of dogs, pots, and shoes.)

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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