G Dan Mitchell Photography

House with Window, Purple Trim, and Plastic Tree

An old suburban home with barred window, purple trim, brick steps, and plastic Christmas Tree – San Jose, California.

I made this photograph on a late afternoon/early evening “photo walk” from my home. This is an interesting and perplexing building. It is a very unusual home, as you can see from the unusual room line and the shapes at the end of the rounded eaves. Someone perhaps once put a lot of thought and effort into creating such an unusual building – unlike most others in the area. But as the place has aged the result has not been wholly wonderful. The purple paint isn’t necessarily a bad thing – just a bit unusual – but it is quite worn. The tiny plastic Christmas tree to the right of the front door is a strange touch; it still has a very small string of lights attached. And things are a bit off-kilter. The room angles don’t quite match up and the grate over the window tilts to one side. Although this was originally a home, I can’t really tell for sure if it is still a home or if it has become some sort of office or business.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: willow glen, san jose, california, usa, winter, street, urban, stock, purple, paint, trip, gable, roof, wall, window, door, steps, fake, artificial, plastic, christmas, tree, urban, street, shingles, light, security, grate, 1008, lincoln, avenue, handel

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.08.2010
Category: Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Urban/Street
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Cliff House, Winter Surf

Cliff House, Winter Surf. San Francisco, California. January 31, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Black and white photograph of Pacific Ocean winter surf at the Cliff House, San Francisco, California.

This was not what I was supposed to photograph on the final day of January. I went to San Francisco to visit my son and then do some street/urban photograph while walking around the city. I expected that we might start in the Mission where he lives – and we actually sort of did, beginning with breakfast at Tartine Bakery. After finishing up we were deciding whether to head toward downtown on foot or catch BART, and I mentioned that since I had my car he might want to go to someplace farther away. He suggest Sutro Baths over in the Cliff House and Ocean Beach area, so off we went.

Although I’ve seen lots of interesting photography from this location – especially some interesting night photography work – I had not photographed there before. The baths are the ruins of what were once apparently some large facilities right next to the rugged shoreline here, but today little remains besides foundations, some low walls, and some remaining pools. I was a bit surprised to find the surf raging; I hadn’t thought it would be an especially high surf day since this was during a lull between storms.

Before long I spotted some of my favorite seascape conditions, bright reflections on the the wild Pacific Ocean winter surf, backlit by sun shining through fog and haze. Although I had no tripod I went ahead and shot some hand held seascapes. I’ve previously mentioned that I don’t always know while shooting whether or not photographs will end up in black and white, but with these I was pretty certain from the beginning. The building in the upper left is the Cliff House, the most recent iteration of a facility that has stood here for a long time.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, sutro, baths, cliff, ocean, sea, coast, shore, pacific, surf, travel, scenic, landscape, seascape, wave, swell, spray, bluff, restaurant, building, architecture, historic, rocks, crash, cloud, sky, winter, storm, rugged, stock

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.07.2010
Category: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean, Photographs: San Francisco
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Couple With Umbrellas, Getty Center

Black and white photograph of a couple with umbrellas walking one behind the other across a sidewalk on a rainy day at the Getty Center, Los Angeles.

I posted another photograph from this sequence a few weeks back. During our late December visit to the Getty Center I found a spot under an overhang that kept the rain off of me and my gear and I picked out a scene full of vertical structures – windows, walls, distant buildings, columns – and waited as other visitors to the Center walked through this little window of light. Out of perhaps a couple dozen exposures I came up with several I like including this one of a couple with umbrellas.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: getty, center, los angeles, california, usa, museum, winter, travel, urban, art, black and white, monochrome, man, woman, couple, walk, umbrellas, folded. walk, sidewalk, railing, window, wall, stone, column, tree, garden building, architecture, reflection, flag, column, travel, rain, mist, fog, cloudy, square, stock

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.06.2010
Category: Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Urban/Street
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Kudos to Michael Frye for His Weekly Critique Series

Michael Frye just posted the second in his weekly series of photograph critiques. It is no surprise that he offers insightful and relevant commentary of the photos, but I want to especially note the nature of his critiques.

A lot of what passes for photo criticism on web forums and elsewhere is less than wonderful stuff. I see all too many that fall into a couple of predictable and not very helpful categories. On one hand I see the shallow and quite meaningless one-liner comments: “Great work!” and “Stunning photo!” and “It sings” and the like are, of course, positive – but they provide very little to the photographer than a momentary warm feeling… which quickly when one realizes that the lack of depth in the responses suggests that the photograph didn’t really engage the viewer. On the other hand we see plenty of examples of the “let me tell you why you suck” school of criticism: these often inform the photographer than he/she ignorantly violated some “rule” of photography and can sometimes degenerate into little more than lists of “everything I can find to dislike in your work.” A lot of this stuff comes from people who honestly think that this is what “criticism” is supposed to be, but some of it comes from folks who should know better.

Given the prevalence of poor public critiquing, I’m especially grateful to Michael for demonstrating the features of good criticism. Some things you’ll note in his series: He begins by finding and acknowledging the admirable and interesting in the work being critiqued; he avoids the “this is wrong” or “you shouldn’t do that” commentary; he shares his reaction to the image, letting the photographer know how and why he responded to it; when he has a different idea he offers the alternative to the original artist rather than insisting; he illustrates what he might do differently; and he concludes by looping back to the positive aspects of his observations.

I’ve never had the opportunity to observe Michael lead a workshop, but if the approach he uses in the online critiques is any indication, I’ll bet that there is a lot to be learned from him at his workshops.

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.05.2010
Category: Commentary
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Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections – Getty Center

Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections - Getty Center

View through curved windows into the central rotunda at the Getter Center with stairs, people, and reflections.

This and a few of my other recent Getty Center photographs are at least partially “about” complexity of several sorts. This isn’t a simple image. I saw quite a few things here when I made it. I may have first been drawn to the reflections on the curving windows of this central building at the Center – it is the first building you enter as you come up from the tram, here photographed from the inner courtyard on the other side of the building. The reflections become almost as solid as some of the other elements since these “other” things are distorted both in shape and color by the windows. I also liked the zigzag pattern of the interior stairway and the two figures at the top balanced by the single sitting figure at the bottom and perhaps the walking figure near the right side. The light was interesting. It was a cloudy and rainy day. (In a full-size image you can see the raindrops on the foreground window.) Besides the odd green cast – more on that in a moment – because the light was diffused and coming from all directions in these misty and rainy conditions, I had a better chance to balance the exposure between the inside and outside areas. There are curves everywhere in the scene – starting with the curving windows, including the curving staircase, the outline of the round interior space, the far curved windows seen clearly in the upper part of the frame, and so on. Finally, as I thought about what to do with the narrow triangle of outside sidewalk at the lower left, it occurred to me that having it there enhanced the odd quality of the green-windowed interior space, and this space even began to remind be a bit of a giant aquarium.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: getty, center, los angeles, california, usa, museum, winter, travel, urban, art, rain, drop, wet, curved, window, frame, architecture, structure, building, rotunda, stairs, steps, railing, people, man, woman, reflection, silhouette, sky, complex, green, light, travel, stock, walk, stand, sit, bench, column

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.05.2010
Category: Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Urban/Street
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Shelter From the Rain, Getty Center

Black and white photograph of four people sheltering from winter rain at the edge of a covered overlook at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.

I’ll confess to being a complete sucker for photographing at the Getty – I really love the place. The art is, of course, wonderful, and I especially enjoy the really fine photographic exhibits found there. In the recent past I saw both the Irving Penn and Edward Weston shows. But I’ve admitted more than once that the place itself is what intrigues me the most. The light is amazing and quite variable – I’ve been there on winter days when the ocean was visible and almost too bright to look at, and on rainy days when fog drifted among the buildings and through the gardens. The architecture is a great subject, but so are the people.

I was there most recently at the end of December, when we stopped on our way back from Southern California for an afternoon. My photographic interests are such that I was almost overjoyed when I saw that it would be rainy at the Getty and even happier when I found fog along the ridge top location. I posted some photographs from this visit earlier this year, and this one begins another short sequence of Getty Center images.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: getty, center, los angeles, california, usa, museum, winter, travel, urban, art, black and white, monochrome, four, people, couple, man, woman, umbrella, fence, sidewalk, railing, opening, roof, columns, structure, silhouette, reflection, shadow, mist, rain, cloud, weather, pattern, architecture, structure, light, garden, street, urban, stock, travel

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.04.2010
Category: Commentary
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Titus Canyon

Black and white photograph of Titus Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California.

This photograph was made on a trip to Death Valley a couple of years ago – I pulled it up recently while working on a post about photographing Death Valley at my web site. Titus Canyon is known for the lower section which is a very narrow and deep slot canyon with a road through it. The road is a spectacular drive, starting east of Death Valley near Rhyolite and Beatty, crossing the mountain range along the east side of Death Valley, descending steep canyons on the west side, passing though the very deep and narrow lower section, and finally emerging into Death Valley. I regard the route as one of the most spectacular drives that I’ve seen – though it isn’t an easy drive. You’ll want a vehicle with good ground clearance, 4WD is advised, and those unnerved by steep and winding gravel roads that sometimes pass across very exposed areas might think twice about driving it. (As of this writing, Titus Canyon has been closed by flooding during the recent southern California storms.)

This photograph was made in the lower portion of the canyon, but above the slot canyon section near where the canyon emerges into Death Valley. The mountains seen in the distance are on the other side of Death Valley and far to the west.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: titus, canyon, road, cliff, rocks, sky, clouds, trees, bushes, plants, desert, grapevine, mountains, landscape, scenic, travel, drive, california, usa, death valley, national park, stock, curve, rugged, desert, road

Posted by: G Dan Mitchell on Feb.03.2010
Category: Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California
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G Dan Mitchell Photography

A daily photograph, news, observations, and ideas about photography

House with Window, Purple Trim, and Plastic Tree

Cliff House, Winter Surf

Couple With Umbrellas, Getty Center

Kudos to Michael Frye for His Weekly Critique Series

Curved Windows, Stairs, and Reflections – Getty Center

Shelter From the Rain, Getty Center

Titus Canyon

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