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Photographs: France, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Boulders and Forest

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Boulders and Forest
Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

Boulders and Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

After weeks of urban travel, enjoying big cities from London to Paris, I was looking forward to the final week of this summer’s long trip to Europe, as we were going to spend it with family at a large vacation home in the countryside not far from Paris. Among other things, I had heard/read that we would be very close to the town of Fontainebleau and the Fontainebleau Forest. In fact, as we drove there we passed through this forest.

A few days into our stay we all decided that it was time for a hike there. I was hoping for a chance to do at least a little bit of landscape photography in this unfamiliar location, even though I would be doing it with my travel photography equipment and not using a tripod. The section of forest we visited was just outside the village of Barbizon, so it was not exactly a wilderness location — there was a small cafe not far away, and lots of people were out hiking and riding bicycles. The forest itself is lovely, though completely different from the great mountain conifer forests of “my” Sierra Nevada. By comparison, this French forest was nearly flat, with few hills more than a few hundred feet high. The trees are a mix of deciduous and conifers, spaced widely to allow plenty of light. The area is known for these large boulders.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain

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Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain
Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

Early Autumn Color, Lake and Mountain. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn color along the shore of a Sierra Nevada alpine lake

One of the pleasures of photographing from a backcountry base camp is that I can roll out of my sleeping bag and climb out of the tent… and start photographing almost at my doorstep. We camped near this lake for a full week, and on several mornings and evenings I explored it, gradually pushing out my boundaries, traveling a bit further along and beyond its shoreline, and getting to know it in different light at various times of day.

I made this photograph on one of those morning walks, when I set out slowly towards the far opposite end of the lake near its outlet stream. I was in no hurry, taking time to observe and photograph as I walked. Eventually I made it to that further point, photographed a bit there, and turned around to start back toward camp, continuing to photograph. The lake remained in the shadow of the tall ridge to the left long after sunrise, and as I walked back the first beams of light reached the shoreline. In this photograph a lakeside willow bush is catching some of that first light.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel

Pont Neuf, Twilight

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Pont Neuf, Twilight
“Pont Neuf, Twilight” — The Pont Neuf Bridge over the Seine, twilight

Near the end of this year’s European travels we were able to spend four nights in Paris before we left that city to meet up with family members in a nearby rural area. Three days and four nights isn’t a lot of time in Paris, but we used it to revisit some places we had been to in the past and to go to a few places we previously missed. We did “the usual” — ate a lot of food, sat in cafes, went to museums, walked a lot, attended a concert, made photographs.

The final evening before we departed ended up being special. It wasn’t that we went anywhere we hadn’t been before or did anything new. In fact, the places we went were all familiar to us. It was a conjunction of several things that made it magical. It was a weekend evening and there were huge crowds of people out walking everywhere. Along the Seine there were walkers, cyclists, people lounging, dancers, musicians, and more. We crossed the bridge at Pont Neuf right around sunset and continued along the banks of the river… and a few moments later I made this twilight photograph looking back toward the bridge.

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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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Talus, Cliff, Shoreline

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Talus, Cliff, Shoreline
A talus field of giant boulders tumbles to the edge of an alpine lake at the foot of a cliff

Talus, Cliff, Shoreline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A talus field of giant boulders tumbles to the edge of an alpine lake at the foot of a cliff

There are multiple ways to look at this photograph. One is to think of it as a record of a specific place at a particular time. That is perhaps important to me and to the others with whom I shared this week in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, but I think it is far less important to others who may view it. Another way to view it is as an example of a particular kind of landscape — the subalpine terrain of the eastern slope of this mountain range — and to note the cliff face at the left, the base of the talus field that reaches to the shoreline, and the lake itself. Sierra travelers probably have their own collection of memories of similar places.

A third way to view it is to try to step back from the seeming objective reality of location and subject, and to try to look at it as a structure of colors and forms and textures. This isn’t always easy, and it perhaps it isn’t for every viewer… though the elements mirrored in the reflective surface of the lake may encourage a viewer to try. In fact, this gets a little closer to how I see such things and such places. Yes, I do respond to them a real locations and as examples of the Sierra terrain I love. However, in most cases that isn’t enough for a photograph, at least not to me. I’m always looking for shape and texture and color and relationships in these subjects. (Of the recent photographs of talus slopes, water, and soft light, this may be my current favorite.)

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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