Tag Archives: pool

Photographs: Urban/Street

Dog, Pot, and Shoe

Image Leave a comment
Dog, Pot, and Shoe
A small scene at a reflecting pool.

Dog, Pot, and Shoe. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small scene at a reflecting pool.

Yes, you can check for yourself. There is a dog. And a shoe. And in the distance a large pot. Image the photograph in San Diego a few years ago. Oddly, I don’t remember making it now.

Recently I was pondering various odd ideas that people hold about photography. Among them is the idea that Real Photographers™ always know before they activate the shutter exactly what the final photograph is look like, that they are utterly certain that is will work perfectly, and that every photograph is made this way. That is, of course, utter nonsense. The truth is that for every decent photograph there are many less successful attempts and often quite a few failures. It is also true that in most arts creativity involves a certain amount of “play” — of trying things to see how they work. Creativity is (and this seems so obvious that I’m almost embarrassed to write it) also an iterative process, where the first attempt is almost never the best one, and good ideas often start out rather weakly. (I make no promises, however, about the future of photographs of dogs, pots, and shoes.)

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Reflecting Pool, Structural Components, Skyline

Image Leave a comment

Reflecting Pool, Structural Components, Skyline
A pool and exterior components of Le Centre Pompidou, Paris

Reflecting Pool, Structural Components, Skyline. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pool and exterior components of Le Centre Pompidou, Paris

The Centre Pompidou in Paris is a fascinating place in many ways. To start with, there’s a lot going on in the surrounding neighborhoods, the large courtyard in “front” of the building, and inside. The art collection is quite wonderful. And, of course, the building itself is unusual and something of a marvel. It also provides plenty of opportunities for photography.

Many of the components of the building are on the exterior instead of being hidden behind a shell. Architectural structures, stairways, ventilation systems and more are right there for the observer to see. This photograph incorporates some of those structural elements, which form the main criss-crossing form in the image. It may not be immediately obvious, but the photograph was made outdoors and many floors above the ground level. Here a shallow pond reflects the structural elements and a bit of Paris sky, with the upper floors of surrounding buildings filling in the middle of the scene in the distance.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Desert Spring

Leave a comment

Desert Spring
Pools of desert water reflect sunrise light on distant mountains, Death Valley National Park

Desert Spring. Death Valley National Park, California. March 31, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pools of desert water reflect sunrise light on distant mountains, Death Valley National Park

Although it is dawn in this photograph, I had already been up and photographing for some time before I took a break to walk along an observation area and next to the highway at this popular location. The pools of water have their source underground at the base of the tall mountains standing behind my camera position.

Beyond the water are salt flats, some in the “classic” flat white style, and others in the inhospitable and rugged “Devil’s Golf Course” style. The foreground water reflects the morning blue sky, and further out it reflects the ridge of the Panamint Mountains on the far side of the Valley.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Night Heron, Reflection

Leave a comment

Night Heron, Reflection
A solitary night heron perches on a snag above a reflecting pool

Night Heron, Reflection. Sacramento Valley, California. January 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary night heron perches on a snag above a reflecting pool

I have mentioned before that I came late to an interest in photographing birds — it only began a few years ago when I took a serendipitous trip to a California Central Valley refuge where I saw huge numbers of birds. Despite being a virtually life-long Californian living within a short drive of such areas, I barely knew they existed. (I had one prior hint on a drive to the Pacific Northwest some years ago, when I passed through the upper Sacramento Valley on a late-November evening and say many birds in the sky.)

That all changed during recent years. At first I “discovered” geese and egrets, the latter which I had seen before and occasionally photographed in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then I caught on to some of the other birds out in the Central Valley — ibises, cranes, herons, white pelicans. But the night herons continued to be a bit of a mystery, and frankly they still remain so to an extent. They are found at the location where I most often photograph, but typically off at some distance. That distance, along with their habit of roosting in thick grasses and plants, makes them hard to see and photograph. On this visit to a different location up in the Sacramento Valley I found a huge group of them in brush just across a canal, and I was able to photograph them from a closer distance, including this one that was atypically out of the brush and standing on a log.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.