G Dan Mitchell Photography

Although I haven’t been tracking these things too closely, a look today at the B&H Photo web site suggests that there are some interesting price reductions right now. For example, I noticed that the prices on the USA versions of some of the Canon lenses are the same as the “gray market lens” prices, and it seems like both are lower than the last time I checked. In addition free basic shipping is available and the prices on all other types of shipping look like they have been reduced to a uniform lower-than-usual price. I am thinking of picking up the EF 85mm f/1.8 lens that I’ve been considering for some time.

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.31.2008 :: Equipment :: No Comments »

(Updated on 1/14/09 to add comments to some of the photographs.)

Since it is the last day of 2008 I guess it is “now or never” if I’m to put together the obligatory “best of the year” list. I thought of doing a “Best 10″ or “Best of Each Month” or similar, but I finally gave up and just tossed a whole bunch of links in here, undoubtedly forgetting to include a few other favorites. (A few have 2007 dates – they were published here for the first time in 2008.) Despite the fact that there might seem to be a slight hint of grumbling in that first paragraph – just my sense of humor at work – I look forward to this end-of-the-year ritual every year. It is really great fun going back and reminding myself of what I’ve seen and photographed, and I frequently rediscover an image that I had somehow forgotten or overlooked.

By the way, if this is the first time you have visited my my blog…

• … THANK YOU for dropping by! :-)
• … if you want to see even more, feel free to wander around my online gallery or visit the blog home page.
• … you are invited to become a member of this web site and post comments and questions.
• … you can subscribe to the RSS feed and get daily site updates.

Anyway, on to the photographs… Continue Reading »

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.31.2008 :: Commentary :: 26 Comments »

Hello and welcome to visitors who arrived here by way of the link in the Discover News Sites and Blogs post at 1001 Noisy Cameras today. (Yes, I did notice the spike in traffic!)

Since many of you are here for the first time, I’ll offer a few words about this blog. It began some years ago as an exercise in in “photographic practice.” With a background in music, I appreciate the importance of and need for regular practice when it comes to developing and maintaining my skills – in photography this includes the ability to see beyond the superficial along with the skills of post processing and much more. So the initial goal of the site was that I would post a new photograph every day. I’ve been doing that for a long time now, so if you return here you’ll continue to see new daily photographs. (An RSS feed is available for this site for those who want to keep up with new post automatically.)

From time to time I also post on a variety of photographic subjects: favorite photographers, shooting locations, my experience with equipment and techniques I use, links to articles and posts by others, and so forth.

Site members can comment on the posts, and I invite you to join the site if you would like to participate in this dialog about photographic issues – there is a site registration link near the top of the page.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great 2009!

Dan

(If you come back later today, I should have my “best of 2008″ post on line.)

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.31.2008 :: Community, Site News :: No Comments »

Storefronts and Tree, First Street. San Jose, California. December 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dilapidated storefront and a tree along First Street in San Jose, California.

This is another in a series of photographs that may be a bit troubling for those of you who follow my landscape and nature photography. Try to think of it as “urban landscape” – that’s what I do! :-)

I have my oldest son, Brandon, to thank for this photo and others in this series. He is a big fan of what I call “urban hiking” – long walks in central city urban areas, often industrial in nature. We finally had the opportunity to do a three hour urban hike in the downtown San Jose area just after Christmas, and we both brought our cameras along. Several things caught my eye about this scene: the wild colors of the paint and some of the window decorations on the lower floor, the shape for the tree in front of the building, the wash of light from across the street and behind my position as I shot this, and the regular horizontal patterns of road, curb, sidewalk, windows, moulding, and more windows.

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

keywords: store, shop, building, windows, doors, reflections, pipe, merchandise, tree, trunk, branch, leaves, street, lane, sidewalk, curb, bricks, tile, store, downtown, urban, street, first, san jose, california, usa, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.31.2008 :: Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

If you have been unable to post comments or even log in to this site as a registered member, I would be grateful if you would contact me via email. It has been brought to my attention that some site configuration changes earlier this year may have messed up some memberships.

Dan

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.30.2008 :: Site News :: 2 Comments »

Sea Stack and Cove, Wilder Ranch State Beach. Santa Cruz, California. December 29, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twilight view of a surf filled cove, shoreline ledges, sea stack, beach, and Monterey Peninsula at Wilder Ranch State Beach.

Although I have visited the section of the California Coast Highway between San Francisco and Santa Cruz many times and have driven past this spot frequently, I had never actually stopped at Wilder Ranch State Beach and wandered out the the ocean here. Having seen some interesting photographs of this spot recently, tonight as I drove north from Santa Cruz I decided that there was no time like the present and I pulled over and hiked down to the beach. Compared to many winter evenings along this section of the Pacific coast, it was very calm and almost warm tonight.

This photograph looks south toward Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay – the Monterey Peninsula is visible on the horizon. The sea stack is probably the most recognizable feature of this beach, though the low rock shelfs along the water’s edge are also pretty interesting. This photograph is a fairly long time exposure shot in the post sunset glow.

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

keywords: sea, stack, cove, rock, ledge, reef, bluff, surf, wave, ocean, pacific, monterey, bay, peninsula, santa cruz, california, usa, sunset, twilight, evening, light, moss, reflection, time exposure, beach, sand, pond, pool, sky, cloud, landscape, seascape, travel, scenic, stock, mist, island, birds

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.30.2008 :: Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean :: 3 Comments »

Seen at the Michael Reichmann’s Luminous Landscape web site:

I am fortunate to count among my friends some of the top photographic instructors in the world. I list their workshops on my Workshops page, and from time to time feature something new that they’re doing.

Charles Cramer is one of America’s most famous landscape photographers and teachers. For years he and Bill Atkinson have been teaching printing workshops together, but now Bill has decided to retire from these and so Charlie is striking out on his own.

You can find out more about this new series of printing workshops here.

I’m also fortunate to know Charlie. Everything Reichmann says is true, and I can vouch for Charlie’s teaching skills, having been the grateful recipient of some individual time with him in his studio. I’ve also been through his booklet on digital post-processing – it distills more useful and practical information into a small text than anything else I’ve seen, and I regularly consult it.

If you are looking to learn from an outstanding photographer, master printmaker, and fine teacher I highly recommend Charlie’s workshops.

G Dan Mitchell :: Dec.29.2008 :: Commentary, Photographers, Workshops :: No Comments »