G Dan Mitchell Photography

Last March I was over on the coast near Davenport, California in the afternoon, and I wandered down to a beach where I’ve photographed in the past. I’d previously gone there to photograph birds and seascapes, but on this day it turned out that the dozens of windsurfers provided a more interesting subject.

I mention this because I’m finally finding time to go through the hundreds of frames I shot that day, and I’ve been posting them over in the Gallery – you can find a good number of them if you check out the recent updates page today, or you can go straight to the windsurfing page.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.31.2008 :: Photographs: Ocean, Photographs: Sports :: 2 Comments »

The Tuxedo Fitting. Temecula, California. June 21, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

I’m not going to explain this photo except to say that I like it a lot – and that you need to click it to see the larger version and then spend a bit of time with it.

keywords: tux, tuxedo, men, fitting, store, mirror, bare foot, lights, clerk, sales, salesman, salesperson, tailor, people, commercial, retail, rent, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.31.2008 :: Photographs: People :: No Comments »

I just saw a link to this story about Radiation Oncologist Dr. Bernard Lewinsky and his photography on a Southern California “ABC 7″ television news program. The link goes to a short text story and a video about Dr. Lewinsky.

As soon as I saw the text link in my browser I knew that he must be the same fellow photographer I shared a bit of time with last Autumn while photographing fall colors at North Lake in the eastern Sierra. When I’m photographing and I see another photographer at work, I try to guess whether the fellow photographer will welcome the conversation or be distracted from his work. He seemed to be finishing up – and he was in a spot where I wanted to photograph… ;-) – so I wandered over and said, “hi.”

While we spoke a bit about equipment – it seems to be the universal icebreaker for photographers – the conversation soon to shifted to other things, including the beauty of the location and his work as a radiation oncologist. He told me how he works with “very sick people” and that he uses his photography to create a more peaceful and calm environment for them.

I’ve spoken with many photographers in the field, but my meeting and conversation with Dr. Lewinsky has stuck with me.

Unfortunately, I cannot find a web link to his photography, but the story says he has compiled a book of his photographs – which look quite impressive from what I can see on the video – and copies are available for sale with the proceeds to go to the American Cancer Society. For more information Dr. Lewinsky’s office can be reached at (818) 884-1683.

(The linked photo is mine, and was taken as Dr. Lewinski and I talked.)

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.30.2008 :: Commentary :: 1 Comment »

I just got an email from someone who will be visiting Yosemite from Europe later this summer, asking about visiting the beautiful Young Lakes area in the Yosemite National Park high country. I posted a copy of my reply in the forum.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.30.2008 :: Locations :: No Comments »

I often hear people claim that image-stabilization is only of value on normal to long focal length lenses, and is not useful on wide angle and ultra wide angle lenses.

The photograph posted earlier today was shot handheld on a full frame DSLR at 1/25 second at ISO 800 and 32mm. (32mm on full frame is equivalent to using a 20mm focal length on a 1.6x cropped sensor body.)

I had just finished a session of tripod-based landscape shooting on the summit of this dome, had packed up, and was heading down when the lone hiker crossed the ridgeline below me just as some lovely post-sunset light gently illuminated the landscape. Having no time to set up a tripod – hiker and light would have been gone by then – I dropped everything, pulled the camera with image-stabilized 24-105mm lens from the pack, made some quick seat-of-the-pants exposure calculations, and got of three quick frames before the scene was gone. Without IS I simply would not have gotten a usable version of this photograph – a photograph that has since been licensed for use in a print journal.

Even as one who often shoots from a tripod – and almost always carries one – I have found the notion that IS has no value at shorter focal lengths to be a myth not born out in actual practice.

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.30.2008 :: Equipment, Ideas, Technique :: No Comments »

Leaving Lembert Dome, Dusk. Yosemite National Park, California. July 30, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hiker leaving the summit of Lembert Dome at dusk. Tuolumne Meadows, with the Sierra crest in the background. Yosemite National Park, California.

I shot this last summer on an evening when I had just finished photographing the Sierra sunset from the top of Lembert Dome in the Tuolumne Meadows area. The “good light” had seemingly ended and I had packed up my camera, lenses, and tripod and was heading down from the peak when there was a wonderful bit of post-sunset warm, soft light… just at the moment when this lone hiker crossed this section of the granite come below me. Not having time to set up my tripod and other gear properly, I simply grabbed three frames at very low shutter speeds, and I was very pleased when I found that one of them actually turned out beautifully. In this case, I was shooting hand held at such low shutter speeds that I had to rely on the image-stabilization feature of the lens I had on my camera at that moment.

(Update: I originally put this year’s date on this photo… which was actually made in July of 2007. The mistake has now been corrected.)

(Update#2: Since I posted this color version I was contacted about licensing the use of  a black and white version of the photograph in a print journal. There are, I think, a few lessons in this shot and this experience.

• First, not all landscape photography is done at a sedate and leisurely pace, pondering for many minutes the intricacies of composition and so forth. Sometimes things happen so quickly that you must depend upon instincts and react quickly to a situation that only lasts a moment. In this case I could not possibly have anticipated the light or the appearance of the lone hiker – when I saw this conjunction of subjects I had no time to set up a tripod.
• Second, sometimes traditional landscape approaches (tripod, small aperture, etc.) won’t get the shot and the adaptability of your gear may save the day… or evening. I pulled out my camera and handheld the shot using the lens that was already on the camera with image stabilization and a rather low shutter speed.
• Third, it probably isn’t news to any one, but sometimes an image that you conceive as color may turn out to work well in black and white, and vice versa. Be flexible.

keywords: lembert dome, tuolumne, meadows, yosemite, national park, california, usa, alpine, mountains, forest, ridge, sierra, nevada, crest, evening, climber, rocks, landscape, scenic, outdoor, hiking, climbing, travel, stock, person, man

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.30.2008 :: Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: 3 Comments »

Big Sur Coast Near Bixby Bridge. Big Sur, California. June 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late spring morning on the Big Sur Coast near Bixby Bridge. I had just enough time to drive down to this point and back on a weekend morning when the sun was breaking through the coastal fog earlier than usual.

keywords: california, usa, big sur, pacific, ocean, coast, coastline, highway, one, 1, sea, shore, surf, beach, rock, cliff, bluff, road, fog, cloud, sky, scenic, landscape, travel, monterey, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.29.2008 :: Photographs: Ocean :: No Comments »