Trees and Fog, Almaden HIlls

Trees and Fog. Almaden Hills, California. May 19, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Dry Grass

Dry Grass. Calero Hills, California. July 9, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Trees and Grass, Morning

Trees and Grass, Morning. (monochrome) Calero Hills, California. June 23, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Trees and Grass, Morning (BW)

Trees and Grass, Morning. (monochrome) Calero Hills, California. June 23, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Marin Headlands, Dusk

Marin Headlands, Dusk. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. May 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

The Golden Gate, Night

The Golden Gate, Night. San Francisco, California. May 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Evening, Point Bonita Lighthouse

Evening, Point Bonita Lighthouse. Marin Headlands, California. May 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Hillside Oaks, Calero Hills

Hillside Oaks. Calero Hills, California. June 2, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Henry David Thoreau

“The question is not what you look at but what you see."

A Photo a Day

I try to post a photograph here every day, and I usually succeed. Making this happen requires several conditions:

• Obviously, I have to do a lot of photography!
• I often prepare photos far in advance of their appearance at this site - often I have as many as 30 photographs waiting in the queue.
• I don't limit the photos to what I regard as my best work. I'll post works in progress, experiments, and so forth here.

I'm thinking about this today because I'm nearing the end of the queue of prepared photographs and I'm nearing the end of the spring term at the college where I am a faculty member. In other words, time is tight right now and I may not have time to do more photography until the beginning of July. I might not be able to post a photo every day between now and then, or I may post a few that are - let's look for the right words here - less than astonishing... ;-)

But then... summer!

Dan

Bamboo Grove, Hakone Garden

Bamboo Garden, Hakone Gardens. Saratoga, California. July 14, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Barrel Fountain, The Lab

Barrel Fountain, The Lab. Costa Mesa, California. June 16, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Men, SJC

Men, SJC. June 15, 2007. & © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Troy Paiva's Night Photography at Fort Mason

From Andy Frazer:

Lost America at Fort Mason, SF I'm a little late announcing this, and hopefully you've already heard it from other sources such as Joe Reifer's blog or Tim Baskerville's Nocturnes blog, but 33 of Troy Paiva's night photographs are on display daily at Fort Mason in the Landmark Building A... The show is open 9AM to 8PM, 7 days a week. It will run until July 15th. - Andy Frazer [Night Photography blog by Andy Frazer]

Oops! Thank you to TROY for writing and pointing out that his name is not "tony..." :-)

Pacific Ocean, Cove, Birds. Davenport, California. August 24, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I Missed One

I was in southern California over the weekend for my daughter's graduation and wasn't able to post a photo.

I'm shocked, but the world does still seem to be rotating on its axis this morning... ;-)

Winter Hiker, Almaden Hills

Winter Hiker. Almaden Hills, California. February 16, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Waiting for Dawn #2, Zabriskie Point

Waiting for Dawn #2, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Waiting for Dawn #1, Zabriskie Point

Waiting for Dawn #1, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Two Rocks, Racetrack Playa

Two Rocks, Dawn. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchelll". ("sales")

Embarcadero Crowd, San Francisco

Crowd, Near Ferry Building. San Francisco, California. February 18, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Sublime or Ridiculous...or Something

The story is making the rounds at photography sites on the net (example here) about the recent photo of distressed blond woman in the back of a limo and the fact that it was shot by Nick Ut, the same photographer who captured the iconic Vietnam war photo of a young girl running from her burning village.

Artist, Zabriskie Point

Artist, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

To Recognize, And To Express What One Has Recognized

From the blog of my favorite oboe player:

Art belongs to the unconscious! One must express oneself! Express oneself directly! Not one's taste, or one's upbringing, or one's intelligence, knowledge, or skill. Not all these acquired characteristics, but that which is inborn, instinctive. And all form-making, all conscious form-making, is connected with some kind of mathematics, or geometry, or with the golden section or suchlike. But only unconscious form-making, which sets up the equation 'form = outward shape,' really creates forms; that alone brings forth protoytpes which are imitated by unoriginal people and become 'formulas.' But whoever is capable of listening to himself, recognizing his own instincts, and also engrossing himself reflectively in every problem, will not need such crutches. One need not be a pioneer to create in this way, only a man who takes himself seriously—and thereby takes seriously that which is the true task of humanity in every intellectual or artistic field: to recognize, and to express what one has recognized!!! This is my belief!

- Composer Arnold Schoenberg, letter to Kandinsky, 1911, translated by Joseph Auner in A Schoenberg Reader - First read here at Alex Ross's site and the posted at oboeinsight

Two Riders, Calero Hills

Two Riders. Calero Hills, California. June 2, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Three Trees and Trail, Calero Hills

Three Trees and Trail. Calero Hills, California. June 2, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Urban Landscapes

Jim Goldstein offers a brief post about relationships between urban and natural landscapes:

Forest & River of Light - Sometimes the parallels between the city and nature sneak up on you. Only after seeing my film did the movement and energy of the city prompt me to think of a stream running through the trees. [JMG-Galleries]

Follow the links back to his post and the photograph he uses as an example.



Bay Bridge and Fence. San Francisco, California. July 17, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Artist, Zabriskie Point

Artist, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

From the "Hmmm" Department

I very much enjoy Flak Photo, and I subscribe to their feed so that I can see the many interesting and creative images that they post. However, I'm perplexed by the June 7 post... Is there something I'm missing about this image?

New and Old Trees, Spanish Camp

New and Old Trees, Spanish Camp. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 15, 2007 © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.