Tag Archives: cell

Hand to Heart

Hand to Heart
A man on a cell phone outside a coffee shop with holiday decorations

Hand to Heart. Brooklyn, New York. December 24. 2015. Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man on a cell phone outside a coffee shop with holiday decorations

I made this photograph on Christmas Eve day, 2015 in Brooklyn, when we went out to find coffee in the morning. If I recall correctly, we ended up at this Starbucks — though it is possible that we might have just walked past here on the way to another place. The man was probably not the main subject. The wild patterns in the windows were what first caught my attention.

Initially I thought of the photograph as a color image, but the more I looked at it the more the various holiday colors began to distract from the pattern itself, so I decided to go with the monochromatic rendering. Inside there were many people, sitting on chairs and at tables, drinking coffee and checking their laptops. Outside on the cold sidewalk and alone, one man waited for something and checked his phone.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Man Talking on Cell Phone

Man Talking on Cell Phone
Man Talking on Cell Phone

Man Talking on Cell Phone. San Francisco, California. July 14, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Man sitting on a bench in front of a San Francisco building and talking on his cell phone.

The first time I worked on this photograph, I made a decision to work it up as a black and white image. However, when I returned to it a month or so ago, I felt like it might be interesting as a color photograph as well.

There is nothing all that special about the location itself – it is on a small street in an area that might be thought of as along the edges of downtown San Francisco. It is not too far to typical large downtown buildings, but here it seems that many might residences and rental units, and many on this street are connected with the Academy of Arts College (or is it “university” now?) facilities that are spread all around the city. I’m intrigued by the interesting shapes and colors and textures of these San Francisco buildings, that often embody some strange combination of a great deal of order (carefully painted rectangular white window frames), utility (the fire escape being almost the most prominent thing on the front of the building), and little oddities (the benches on a slanting sidewalk and guy talking obliviously on his cell phone).

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset

Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset
Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset

Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset. Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California. July 24, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An evening storm cell winds down over Mount Dana beyond Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

This is a wider view of a scene I photographed in late July on an evening when thunderstorm cells were floating around the Sierra Nevada crest east of Tuolumne Meadows. This cell had conveniently centered itself directly above and behind Mount Dana, the highest peak on this section of the crest right above Tioga Pass, and was dropping virga (rain that doesn’t make it to the ground) over the peak in the sunset light.

It seemed odd that I was the only photographer out in the meadow on this evening!

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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Morning Squall, South Tufa

Morning Squall, South Tufa
Morning Squall, South Tufa

Morning Squall, South Tufa. Mono Lake, California. July 25, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shoreline of Mono Lake as a morning squall drops rain over the Sierra Crest near Lee Vining, California.

This photograph is, in a number of ways, a sort of happy accident. I had been camped in the Tuolumne Meadows area for several days, doing photography in that area of the Yosemite National Park Sierra Nevada high country. On the previous day I had been caught out on a hike in a surprise thunderstorm without rain gear, so I was very conscious of the weather. That evening it occurred to me that given the approach of some monsoonal moisture and the already wet weather, that it was possible that interesting clouds might form in the Mono Lake area the next morning. (Mono at dawn is a spectacular place, but since I’ve photographed there quite a few times I don’t necessarily shoot there at dawn every time I’m in the area unless there is a chance of special conditions.)

That night I peered out of my tent from time to time to see if any clouds were interrupting the light of the full moon, thinking that this might be enough to get me to change my plans for morning photography and make the drive to Mono Lake. At one point a few clouds did dim the moon light, and a bit later a few showers came through. At this point I was pretty certain that the cloud potential would be there in the morning so I decided to get up a bit earlier and drive to South Tufa.

I thought I was up early enough. However, as I drove down highway 395 south of Lee Vining I realized that I had miscalculated and that the sun was already hitting the clouds! I experienced the photographer’s conundrum – shoot what I see here now, or race on hoping to shoot the planned thing. I decided to stop and shoot the very first light on the Sierra crest from 395 before heading on, but now my original plan for a pre-dawn visit to Mono was out the window. Soon I headed on down the road, turned off onto eastbound 120 and made my way to South Tufa just as the first sun was striking the lake shore. I quickly made it out to the tufa area and saw (how could anyone miss it!?) this giant cloud cell blowing up over the Sierra crest just north of Lee Vining.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.