G Dan Mitchell Photography

Parking Lot Near High Line Park

Parking Lot Near High Line Park. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening photograph of an urban parking lot near the High Line Elevated Park in the Chelsea area of New York City.

I photographed this parking facility from above as we started down the stairs at the north end of High Line Park. Since I was traveling light at this point I had no tripod – so I made this 1/8 second exposure hand-held. (Image stabilization can be your friend!) Lighting was, to say the least, tricky. Areas of the structure were in deep shadow, but there were also bright artificial light directly within the frame. By some miracle I managed to pretty much capture the full dynamic range in one shot.

These parking elevators are seen all over Manhattan, and they allow cars to be parked several deep on the vertical lift. This was the first time I had the opportunity to shoot one from a position that wasn’t on the ground, and the complicated mass of vertical beams filling the space and lit by artificial light sources seemed like an interesting subject. I haven’t seen the elevators in operation, so I still wonder how the lot operators manage to get the right cars at the top/bottom of each lift so that each person’s car will be at ground level at the right 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.

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keywords: new york, nyc, city, state, usa, north america, parking, lot, facility, elevators, cars, autos, automobiles, lift, machine, industrial, structure, scaffold, evening, light, urban, street, downtown, chelsea, manhattan, island, high, line, elevated, park, east, side, lower, architecture, steel, brace, beam, stock

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 35mm (at B&H)
ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/8 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.25.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane

Standard Hotel, Clouds, and Airplane. New York, New York. August 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An airplane crosses a cloud-filled New York City sky above the Standard Hotel at the High Line Park in Chelsea.

This hotel straddling the High Line Elevated Park in New York City presents a striking appearance, especially when the right clouds are reflected in its glass-window surface. We were in the area on a summer evening when the sky was filled with interesting clouds, and by the time we finished walking to and then along the elevated path of the High Line park we had seen it from quite a few angles.

This was my first visit to New York City in a decade, and I have to say that coming to terms with it as a photographic subject is a tall task for someone trying to take in the whole thing for (not quite) the first time. I do a lot of street and urban photography, but usually in places with which I’m familiar – San Francisco is a short train ride from where I live, so I photograph there a lot. For me, it takes some time to get beyond the overwhelming first impressions and settle down and achieve a level of comfort with the place. There were days in New York when, despite being in the midst of tremendous numbers of photographic opportunities, I found it almost impossible to figure out what to shoot. And there were also certain times when “the light came on” and I made a lot of photographs, including this evening.

I need to go back…

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.

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keywords: new york, city, state, chelsea, manhattan, island, the, standard, hotel, windows, reflect, clouds, sky, architecture, building, geometry, pattern, perspective, blue, white, angle, high, line, elevated, park, usa, north america, urban, street, lower, west, side, stock, jet, airplane, airliner, plane, fly, flight

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 45mm (at B&H)
ISO 200, f/8, 1/320 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.24.2010 :: Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: 2 Comments »

The Standard Hotel and Clouds

The Standard Hotel and Clouds. New York, New York. August 18, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The windows of the Standard Hotel reflect clouds and sky above the High Line Park.

We spent a week in New York City in mid-August – our first visit in a decade. I had forgotten a lot about the character of this city, but it all started coming back to me as we drove into Manhattan on a Friday evening and encountered people everywhere, out and about and doing all of the things that one does here. I have many images in my mind from the visit, but one is a sort of combination of massive, tall, and static structures surrounded by the constant motion of vehicles and people.

The next evening we made our way – with the help of our oldest son, who now lives there – down to the High Line Park area, arriving at the beginning of the “golden hour” light on an evening featuring wonderfully textured clouds. The Standard Hotel straddles the High Line – which, for those who may not know, is a narrow elevated park built on the structure of an old elevated railway. Here the cloud-filled sky is reflected in the windows of the hotel.

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.

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keywords: new york, city, state, chelsea, manhattan, island, the, standard, hotel, windows, reflect, clouds, sky, architecture, building, geometry, pattern, perspective, blue, white, angle, high, line, elevated, park, usa, north america, urban, street, lower, west, side, stock

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II (at B&H)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM (at B&H) at 105mm
ISO 100, f/11, 1/50 second

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.22.2010 :: Commentary, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: No Comments »

Point Lobos Rock Patterns #1 – July 10, 2010

Point Lobos Rock Patterns #1 – July 10, 2010. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of abstract rock patterns near Weston Beach at Point Lobos State Reserve.

This detail of the Point Lobos shoreline rocks was also photographed in an area just a bit north of Weston Cove where large rocks are lifted up at striking angles and the surf has worn away successive layers of sedimentary rock to reveal wild patterns. Some of the colors in this bit of rock were quite intense – the rock on the left is intensely reddish-brown in the original capture – and seemed to overwhelm the subtle patterns, especially those on the right side of the image.

I don’t know if it is apparent but this is a highly post-processed image. I don’t think it is necessary to spoil the fun by going into all of the gory details, but this image depends quite a bit on work in post.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 100, f/16, 1/5 second

keywords: point, lobos, state, reserve, park, california, usa, north america, nature, geology, rock, pattern, texture, abstract, weston, beach, landscape, pacific, ocean, coast, shore, tidepools, monterey, peninsula, carmel, big sur, curve, black and white, monochrome, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.25.2010 :: Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean, Photographs: Textures :: 4 Comments »

Sidewalk and Steel Plates

Sidewalk and Steel Plates San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterned steel plates criss-cross a sidewalk in San Francisco, California.

This pattern caught my attention as I walked behind the Ferry Building toward the waterfront – the plates apparently cover underground utilities of some sort. The odd angles and the glow of the diffused light from overhead fog created interesting patterns and texture. At first I thought of keeping this as a color image, but in the end the colors were so soft and so close to monochromatic that I decided to go with this version.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/16, 1/125 second

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, north america, city, urban, sidewalk, driveway, cement, concrete, steel, texture, plate, reflection, glow, criss-cross, diagonal, minimalism, ferry, building, the, embarcadero, stock, abstract, black and white, monochrome

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.19.2010 :: Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street :: 2 Comments »

Point Lobos Rock Patterns #1 - July 10, 2010

Point Lobos Rock Patterns #1 – July 10, 2010. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of patterns in eroded shoreline rocks, Point Lobos State Reserve.

I was at Point Lobos twice on July 10. I arrived fairly early in the morning just after the park opened. (It opens late – not until 9:00 a.m.) It was foggy so I spent a few hours wandering along a trail that follows along the north shore of the park, mostly traveling through open forest along the tops of cliffs. I have some photographs from this activity that I’ll post later.

In the middle of the day – still foggy! – I suspended my photograph so that I could go into Carmel and see a talk by John Sexton sponsored by the Center for Photographic Art and attend the opening of his show afterwards. (If you are in the Monterey Peninsula area you should visit this show and the Ansel Adams show at the Monterey Museum of Art.)

Following the show I headed back to Point Lobos. I had heard a weather forecast suggesting some clearing later in the day, and hope springs eternal when it comes to the hope that the coastal fog will lift! It didn’t happen. However, this meant that I had lots of soft, diffused light to work with, so I headed out to these remarkably patterned rocks just north of Weston Cove to see what I could come up with.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 100, f/16, 1/5 second

keywords: point. lobos. state. reserve. park. california. usa. north america. carmel. big. sur. monterey. peninsula. coast. shore. sea. ocean. pacific. scenic. travel. nature. geology. texture. form. shape. rock. erosion. sand. stone. sedimentary. landscape. detail. pattern. red. brown. stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.13.2010 :: Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean, Photographs: Textures :: 4 Comments »

Blue Ice, Alpine Lake

Blue Ice, Alpine Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns of blue and white ice emerge as the frozen surface of an alpine lake begins to melt, Yosemite National Park.

Yes, I’m still working the series of photographs from my late June visit to a frozen alpine lake in the Tioga Pass area of Yosemite National Park – and there still may be one or two more to come. This is a tightly cropped detail of a section of the ice on the surface of this lake that was still mostly frozen, albeit in a somewhat slushy form. (Other photographs in this series play with the juxtaposition of ices and meltwater floating on the surface of the ice.) The very blue tone comes from the fact that the illumination was entirely from the very blue sky, with no direct sunlight hitting the ice at all.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 100, f/18, 1/8 second

keywords: gaylor, lake, basin, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, tioga, pass, road, sierra, nevada, crest, mountain, range, alpine, blue, white, ice, frozen, melt, pattern, surface, landscape, nature, scenic, stock, tuolumne, evening, late, afternoon

G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.12.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Yosemite :: No Comments »