Images

Celebrate 75 Years

Image January 6, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This photograph could be seen as a lesson and as an example regarding practice… and in a few other ways, as well. I don’t know if much needs to be said about it, but I’ll offer a few thoughts anyway. I made it while I was busy doing what might seem more like “work” photography — documenting the opening reception of an exhibit by my friend Oliver Klink, whose beautiful “Cultures in Transition” exhibit had recently been installed at PhotoCentral in Hayward, California. Mostly I was running around making photographs of various people attending the event and photographs of the gallery space. But every so often I spot something that seems like a photograph in its own right, and I disconnect from the work momentarily to capture that “something.”

This is, admittedly, a somewhat minimal and perhaps even somewhat enigmatic photograph — and it also doesn’t likely seem all that connected to the landscape photography of mine that may be more familiar. There are several ways one could “read” this image, but rather than being didactic about it, I’ll leave the reading to the viewer. What do you see?

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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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Headlands, And Beach

Image January 5, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Storm surf raises mist along the beach below headlands at Point Sur along the Pacific Coast Highway

Point Sur provides one of the more striking landmarks along the Big Sur coastline, which is saying something in this area of wild landscapes where the sea and the mountains meet in dramatic fashion. It is located at what I regard as the upper end of the Big Sur coast, not all that far belong Carmel and still a bit north of the town of Big Sur. It is visible for a good distance both up and down the coast, as the unusual feature sits right at the edge of the water, connected to the mainland only by a narrow peninsula which, in places, is little more than a glorified beach.

The place also is the site of a historic coastal light house. Many years ago it was so isolated from civilization that the light house keepers and their families had to be there for months-long stints when they were out of touch with the larger world. Supplies were brought in by ship, the residents raised food in their own gardens, and aside from getting to nearby villages, it was a long trail to get to Monterey. I photographed it as I approached from the north, in a section of the Pacific Coast Highway that descends from a high headland area almost all the way down to the water line. On this day huge swells were coming ashore from storms in the northern Pacific Ocean.

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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Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Ship Yard Crane Structure, Night

Image January 4, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, on an island across the narrow bay from Vallejo, California, is a remarkable place. It has a long history, going back to the first half of the 1800s, when it was the first such ship yard on the west coast of the United States. It continued to serve in that capacity until the 1990s, when it was finally decommissioned. At first, much of the facility languished, gradually falling into disrepair. More recently, it has become the site of redevelopment, new construction… and efforts to arrest the decay and preserve some of the historic area.

Mare Island has also been a Mecca for Bay Area night photographers for a couple of decades. Ask almost any area night photographer if they’ve been there, and the answer will be “yes.” I got my start doing night photography at Mare Island about fifteen years ago, when I happened to end up at an introductory session run by the original “The Nocturnes” group, put on as part of the Pacific Flyway Festival. The subject of this photograph is one of the gigantic shipyard crane structures found along the waterfront, designed to facilitate moving huge ship components at the dry-docks. This crane sits on carriages that run on a short section of curving track, allowing it to move over a short distance.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Slot Canyon

Image January 3, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The narrow confines of a Utah slot canyon.

Utah’s red rock and canyon country is not my native landscape, though I could see how it could be in another life. I somehow managed to live through decades of my life mostly unaware of its magic. (I have explained previously that this may be partially the result of long childhood road trips from California to the Midwest — they nearly always passed through far less scenic parts of Utah.) I had seen photographs, and eventually I started listening more carefully to the stories my friends told. Finally, less than a decade ago, I made my first visit, a long trip on which we visited Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Arches. I was completely taken by this landscape and spent many weeks there over the next few years. (I haven’t been back recently, in protest against the state’s promotion of and surrender to the administration’s attack on our American public lands in the state.)

This photograph came from one of those later visits. This time, about four years ago, I had several weeks of time to travel around the state and explore. Part of that exploration was done entirely alone, but later I joined up with some other photographer friends… and I concluded the trip by meeting up with family at Zion. The photograph comes from that early, solo portion. I had heard the names of some places that weren’t far from where I was staying, so I decided to investigate. I frequently — and intentionally — don’t over-research locations, since I prefer to discover them on my own. So I figured out the minimal information about which gravel road to take, and I drove there and headed out. Before long I came to a turn-out at a spot that provided access to a beautiful wash, so I stopped and started hiking. Soon the canyon narrowed and before long I was in this beautiful slot canyon, still wet from recent rain. This spot was special — a place where the transition from open wash to narrow slot canyon was very apparent.