Category Archives: Photograph Exposed

Photograph Exposed, Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Photograph Exposed: Je Suis Bleu

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Je Suis Bleu
Sidewalk, graffiti covered wall, and women (virtual and real) on a Paris street

je suis bleu. Paris, France. August 10, 2016.
© Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell.

(“A Photograph Exposed” is a series exploring some of my photographs in greater detail.)

Much of my photography is in landscape and nature genres, but my work also includes other genres. For example, I am very enthusiastic about street and travel photography. I am going to use this photograph to explore that aspect of my photography and to share some background about this image and how it came about.

I made the photograph during a visit to Paris a few years ago, on a day when we spent time in Le Marais. There’s a lot going on in this popular part of Paris. There’s plenty of tourist stuff nearby — the Cathedral of Notre Dame is just a few blocks away and the Latin Quarter not far beyond. But walking in the opposite direction takes you into an older area of Paris, with narrow, twisting streets, old buildings, and a lot of character.

We explored without relying on written or human guides, preferring to wander and discover. Photography was on my mind, and I made several other photographs in this area where the light is often lovely, the streets are narrow, and the buildings and people fascinating.

Woman, Wall, Le Marais
A person in colorful clothing checking the phone next to and old wall in Le Marais, Paris

Woman, Wall, Le Marais

Sidewalk Art, Le Marais
Art presented sale for along a sidewalk in Le Marais, Paris

Sidewalk Art, Le Marais

Street photography

A lot of street photography is done quickly and spontaneously, and I always work with a small, handheld camera, usually with a small prime lens. There are many reasons for this camera/lens choice, but one is that this gear doesn’t read as ‘tourist with big camera.” People mostly ignore me in the street, and when they do see the little camera they often seem not to think that I’m a “serious photographer.”

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Photograph Exposed, Technique

A Photograph Exposed: Technique and Interpretation in Post

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(“A Photograph Exposed” is a series exploring some of my photographs in greater detail.)

Island and Trees, Tuolumne River
Trees grow on a small, rocky island in the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park

If you follow this website you may have seen this photograph before — it is one of two that were the subjects of an earlier article (“A Photograph Exposed: One Subject, Two Compositions“) focusing on compositional decisions I made when I photographed this Sierra Nevada subject. In this companion article I want to look at the next step — going from that original exposure to the final (at least for now!) interpretation of the subject that you see above, and the how and why of post-processing the image.

For me, post-processing is as much a part of the creative process of photography as is composing and making the exposure. In fact, many of the decisions that I make at the time of exposure anticipate what I may do during the post-processing stage. These decisions recognize that the camera does not “see” the same way that we do, and that simply trying to produce an exposure that looks the exactly like the actual scene is often both hopeless and counterproductive. Continue reading A Photograph Exposed: Technique and Interpretation in Post →

Commentary, Photograph Exposed

A Photograph Exposed: One Subject, Two Compositions

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(“A Photograph Exposed” is a series exploring some of my photographs in greater detail. A companion article looks at post processing issues related to the same subject.)

Landscape photographs depend on many things: good fortune to be in the right place at the right time, experience that helps predict when and where to find “right place at the right time,” sensitivity and experience that help you recognize the potential in a scene, being able to think beyond the intrinsic beauty of a scene to consideration of how it might make a photograph, an intuitive sense of “what is right” visually, the ability to apply some objective thought on top of the intuition, and other things in a list that is too long to recount completely.

I would like to share some of the thinking that went into photographing one particular scene earlier this summer.

Island and Trees, Tuolumne River
Trees grow on a small, rocky island in the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park

Back in mid-July I experienced a special evening in the Tuolumne Meadows Sierra Nevada of Yosemite National Park. It was special for many reasons — some photographic and some not, but even the non-photographic reasons helped put my mind and my senses in the right place to make photographs. I had arrived and set up camp, taken care of camp chores, and finally headed out for late-afternoon and evening photography. I pulled off the road to take a look at a possible subject, and by remarkable coincidence found myself parked behind two good friends who were there for much the same reason. We joined forces and headed of to a nearby area that seemed promising. In an even more remarkable coincidence, partway there two more friends showed up, also there for the same purpose! Something about hiking off into a beautiful landscape with like-minded friends seems to heighten my awareness.

We followed the Tuolumne River and soon its angle of descent began to increase slightly as its channel narrowed and became more rocky. Continue reading A Photograph Exposed: One Subject, Two Compositions →

Photograph Exposed, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

A Photograph Exposed: “Shoreline Reflections, Trees and Rocks”

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(“A Photograph Exposed” is a series exploring some of my photographs in greater detail.)

Shoreline Reflections, Trees and Rocks
Black and white photograph of silhouetted trees and boulders and their reflections lining a flooded section of the shoreline of Tenaya Lake.

Shoreline Reflections, Trees and Rocks. Yosemite National Park, California. June 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of silhouetted trees and boulders and their reflections lining a flooded section of the shoreline of Tenaya Lake.

This photograph is a personal favorite for a bunch of reasons related to how the photograph came about, the experience of making the photograph, associations with the place, and a print that pleases me a great deal.

I maintain the no photographer’s work is wholly original. What comes closest to being truly original is the personal vision of the artist — that particular way of seeing that the photographer develops. That vision is actually unique, but it is built from experiences and exposure to a visual world that includes the ways of seeing of other photographers and painters and more. I acknowledge and am grateful to a wide range of photographers whose work informs my way of seeing the world.

Among them is Charlie Cramer, who I’m fortunate to count not only as a photographic influence, but also as a friend. Charlie’s way of seeing light appeals to me a great deal, and among the photographs of his that stick in my mind is one of some very similar trees at this exact lake. When I’m in a place where another photographer’s photograph immediately comes to mind I often feel cautious about making a photograph that might look too much like their work — and this one may be an example of “influenced by” but “not like.”

Continue reading A Photograph Exposed: “Shoreline Reflections, Trees and Rocks” →