G Dan Mitchell Photography

2007-10-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Update: My real photography web site is now hosted elsewhere. Please visit:

G Dan Mitchell | Photography, my photography blog, and

G Dan Mitchell | Gallery, where I archive much of my work.

Thanks, and see you there!

Dan

Hosting switch underway

2007-07-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

I'm switching my main photography web site, G Dan Mitchell | Photography, over to a new hosting service this week. The change is currently percolating through the domain name system and by Monday most everyone should be hitting the version of the site sitting on the new host server.

That site is a static version of the old site as it existed on Sunday afternoon. The home page looks pretty much as it did before, but parts of that temporary static site do not work correctly. Expect to see another wave of changes after the middle of the week - when I'm done with a little bit of photography work that I'm doing over the next couple of days.

Thanks for your patience!

Dan

Bamboo Garden, Hakone Gardens

2007-07-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

Bamboo Garden, Hakone Gardens. (black and white) Saratoga, California. July 14, 2006. © © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Trees and Fog, Almaden HIlls

2007-06-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

Dry Grass

2007-06-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

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

Trees and Grass, Morning

2007-06-23T21:36:00.001-07:00

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

Trees and Grass, Morning (BW)

2007-06-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

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

Marin Headlands, Dusk

2007-06-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

The Golden Gate, Night

2007-06-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

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

Evening, Point Bonita Lighthouse

2007-06-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

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

Hillside Oaks, Calero Hills

2007-06-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

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

Henry David Thoreau

2007-06-21T17:15:00.001-07:00

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

A Photo a Day

2007-06-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

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

Barrel Fountain, The Lab

2007-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

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

Men, SJC

2007-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

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

Troy Paiva's Night Photography at Fort Mason

2007-06-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

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..." :-)

2007-06-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

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

I Missed One

2007-06-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

Waiting for Dawn #2, Zabriskie Point

2007-06-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

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

Waiting for Dawn #1, Zabriskie Point

2007-06-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

Two Rocks, Racetrack Playa

2007-06-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

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

Embarcadero Crowd, San Francisco

2007-06-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

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

Sublime or Ridiculous...or Something

2007-06-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

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

To Recognize, And To Express What One Has Recognized

2007-06-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

Three Trees and Trail, Calero Hills

2007-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

Urban Landscapes

2007-06-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

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

From the "Hmmm" Department

2007-06-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

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

Golden Gate Panorama, Point Bonita

2007-06-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

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

Golden Gate Panorama, Point Bonita

2007-06-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Golden Gate Panorama, Point Bonita. San Francisco, California. May 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

Mike Johnson Locked Out of His Blog by Rampaging Anti-Spam Robots

2007-06-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Seen at Luminous Landscape and passed along here:

My long-time friend and once-columnist for this site, Mike Johnston, has been locked out of his blog site by rampaging anti-spam robots. He wanted me to let people know that theonlinephotographer and he are alive and well, so below is the latest word from Mike and how to find him...

As of about last Thursday, Blogger's Spam-Fighting Robots (I don't know about you, but I picture the "Iron Giant") put The Online Photographer on lockdown, mistaking it for a "spam blog." Evidently we triggered the robots' excessively fuzzy recognition systems somehow.

Solution? There is none. You can't get through to humans at Blogger, evidently by design (it's a free service, after all). I've submitted a "review request" and now I get to...wait. And wait. Three days and counting, so far, and I'm told it could be as much as a WEEK before I'm let into the house again. In the meantime, the site will look like it's frozen in amber, and there's no way for me to even tell people what's wrong.

So, to pass the time, I burned the midnight oil over the weekend and built an entirely NEW "Online Photographer," using TypePad. Why TypePad? Because TypePad offers a little thing called "Customer Support." Very Web 2.0.

Our new address will eventually be theonlinephotographer.com. If that doesn't work for you right away, you may need to try http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com. The new site is looking pretty rough still, but I'm working on it. Please come over and have a look around, and let me know what you think.

When they let me in again over at Blogger, I'll post a pointer. Until then, informing people can only be done by word of mouth. So if you can help spread the news around, please do, and many thanks. [The Luminous Landscape - What's New]

The Online Photographer is on my regular "must read" list. Hearing this story makes me a bit less inclined to let Blogger be my permanent host for my site when it moves - I'm getting more inclined towards using my hosting company's WordPress and Gallery option.

Golden Gate Bridge, Night

2007-06-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

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

Changes Coming

2007-06-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

The following is a copy of a post at my main web site:

Sometime during the next few weeks there will likely be some rather major changes at this web site. I'm going to move to a new hosting service. I may rethink the way I store and present my photographs.

I may split the site into two separate sites - a blog and a gallery. The blog may end up as a blogger site, either the current mirror site or something different - or it may simply move to a WordPress blog at the new host. Some of these options will allow me to keep the blog at the current URL, while others may not.

I am still thinking through the logistics of online storage and presentation of my photographs. Recently I've been linking to copies stored at Flickr, and that seems to be working OK. I've also experimented with a gallery service through the new hosting company, and that option offers some advantages. Then there are the online photographers' sites such as smugmug and pbase and the like. Too many choices!

If you follow this blog regularly and don't want to lose track of it during the transition, I suggest that you also follow the blogger.com version at http://www.gdanmitchell.com/, subscribe to that site's RSS feed, and watch here (and there) for announcements of changes.

- Dan

Seen It All Before

2007-06-03T22:17:00.001-07:00

From Behind the Lens:

One of the primary purposes of photography is to show us things and relationships we hadn't noticed before. If the only thing a photograph has to offer is that it's well composed, nicely printed and pretty, is it any wonder that we become jaded.

Does this mean, though, that the only alternative is to make photographs so odd, distorted, multiple exposed, muddy, unfocused, odd, even perverted that we can almost guarantee we haven't seen this before (or at least if we have, we threw them out years ago as a bad attempt and wouldn't in a million years have thought to submit them for publication)?

Does a photographer get credit for imagination without either purpose or execution? Seems like some editors think so.

Is it not possible to show a 'rocks and roots' image which is so well done that it takes our breath away? Should we all completely give up photographing the landscape becuse 'it's been done before". Does this mean we don't need any more war pictures or famine shots, portraits or nudes? Is it not possible to show us a photograph in one of these categories without covering the nude with post it notes, the landscape with ropes, the portrait with graffiti in order to make it new? God, I hope not.

(Follow the link to read the full post.)

I think creating a photo that relies on shock value is much less difficult than creating a photograph of a familiar subject that shows that subject in a new way or reveals something about the subject.

Three Trees, Calero Hills

2007-06-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

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

Crossing the Bridge, Point Bonita Lighthouse

2007-06-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

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

Making the Best of It

2007-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night this week I joined a group of photographers under the sponsorship of The Nocturnes for a visit to the Point Bonita Lighthouse at the end of the Marin Headlands along the California coast just outside San Francisco Bay. The excuse, as always with the Nocturnes, was to make photographs under a full moon.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Not surprisingly to those who know the San Francisco area, it turned out to be quite foggy. And cold. And windy. Fortunately, I sort of enjoy "interesting" weather like that, and the walk across several footbridges to the lighthouse and back in dark and near dark conditions, with a strong wind blowing and the surf crashing below, was a special experience.

However, for me at least, the photographic results were less than stunning. I'll post a few images here soon, but I came away feeling that I hadn't really captured that "one image" that I try to take away from any project like this - several interesting ones, but nothing all that striking.

But that is OK. I think I'm learning to take a longer view when this happens. Each time I shoot a new subject like this, I learn something (sometimes several somethings) new about the subject itself, how to shoot in different conditions, and so forth. While all of that may not have resulted in any stunning photographs this time, I think the knowledge and experience will likely pay off in the future.

Another Unexpected Photo

2007-06-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Greg writes:

I came across your site from your participation in Jim Goldstein’s Favorite Photo project. I really liked your posting and it also reminded me of a similar situation that I had. I did a short write up on this last night and posted it on my blog and wanted to share it with you: http://latogaphoto.blogspot.com/2007/05/one-good-story-leads-to-another.html

Seattle Airport #2 - May 28, 2007

2007-06-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

Seattle Airport #2. Seattle, Washington. May 28, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Seattle Airport #1 - May 28, 2007

2007-05-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

Seattle Airport Terminal #1. Seattle, Washington. May 28, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

The Way You See

2007-05-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Jim Goldstein shares a quote that resonates for me.

This weekend I attended a photography workshop put on by Art Wolfe here in San Francisco dealing with creativity and creative vision... During the workshop a quote by Elliott Erwitt was displayed and it really struck a nerve.
"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." - Elliott Erwitt
JMG-Galleries

Wing #2 - May 28, 2007

2007-05-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

Wing #2. May 28, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Wing #1 - May 28, 2007

2007-05-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

Wing #1. May 28, 2007. © "Copyright G Dan Mitchell". ("sales")

2007-05-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Mosaic Canyon Wash. Death Valley National Park. April 4, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Zabriskie Point, Moonlight

2007-05-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Zabriskie Point, Moonlight. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

Catching Up...

2007-05-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

While this site parallels my real photography site, I got behind on my posting here while traveling over the weekend. Today I will post three photos - today's new photo and the two that I missed.

Pacific Coast Sky, Dusk

2007-05-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

Pacific Coast Sky, Dusk. May 25, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. ("sales")

21 Favorite Photographs and the Stories Behind Them

2007-05-25T08:00:00.001-07:00

I see that a story at this site (or, more accurately the version at my main web site) is included in a post at Jim Goldstein's blog today:

21 Favorite Photos And The Stories Behind Them
Since initiating the project on May 14th I’ve been introduced, and in some cases re-introduced, to some great photographers. The subject material, photographic styles and skill levels of those submitting may vary, but the one constant shared by all is a passion to capture and share the world as they see it. [JMG-Galleries]

Follow the title link within the excerpt from Jim's post to see the full list. (Thanks for including my story, Jim.)

Crossing Mono Pass, Sierra Nevada Crest

2007-05-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Crossing Mono Pass, Sierra Crest. Yosemite National Park, California. May 20, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

First Light on the Panamints, Zabriskie Point

2007-05-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

First Light on the Panamints, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park. April 2, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

Mark Twain

2007-05-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

"You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."
[Quotes of the Day]

Mono Pass Trail, Sierra Crest

2007-05-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

Johann Sebastian Bach

2007-05-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

"Ceaseless work, analysis, reflection, writing much, endless self-correction, that is my secret." [oboeinsight]

A work ethic that could be applied to photography as well.

Mammoth Peak, Spring - Yosemite National Park

2007-05-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Half Dome and Glacial Erratics, Olmsted Point

2007-05-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Dawn, Zabriskie Point - Death Valley

2007-05-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

Oaks, Coastal Fog - Almaden HIlls

2007-05-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

Photographers at Dawn, Zabriskie Point

2007-05-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

The Source, Racetrack Playa - Death Valley National Park

2007-05-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Collective Memories

2007-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tim Baskerville from "the nocturnes" reports on his upcoming show:

CCI Gallery (Berkeley, CA) is showing some of my Mare Island night work (6 prints), as well as some b/w work (six prints, done in the daylight hours!) of San Francisco's Historic Streetcars, in "Collective Memories," part of their 50th Anniversary Celebration. The work is up thru June 2nd, with a big reception on May 19, 2007 from 6-10pm. Merchants in the "gourmet ghetto" of North Berkeley are participating in the ArtWalk festivities which mark the ACCI anniversary, as well as the 40th anniversary of the Berkeley Art Center, where we are also members.

Click here for more info.

Diagonal Track, Racetrack Playa - Death Valley National Park

2007-05-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

Why Flickr Makes Me Nervous

2007-05-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been using Flickr as a repository for new photographs posted at this site and elsewhere, and I've been trying to engage and understand the Flickr community. There is a lot of good stuff there. There are also a few things that strike me as odd or which raise some concerns. Read a post by a person describing one of these issues:

Flickr = Censorship

Rebekka is a single mom and art student living in Iceland. She's an artist and a talented one at that. She does amazing things with her camera. Recently she discovered that a gallery Only-Dreemin had been ripping her off. They'd sold thousands of dollars worth of her images and when she caught them and tried to make them give her the money that they stole from her they refused. So Rebekka did what anyone with a following on the internet might do and she posted about her frustration and plight on her flickrstream. And her story resonated loudly with the flickr community. Her story made the front page of digg and by days end she had 100,000 views on this particular photograph with hundreds of supportive comments...

Please follow the link and read the rest of the post.

Before Flickr deletes it.

Curving Track, Racetrack Playa - Death Valley

2007-05-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Rock Tracks, Racetrack Playa

2007-05-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Photograph, Zabriskie Point - Background Story

2007-05-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

In response to a post at Jim Goldstein's site, here is a background story about the photo I posted earlier today - which is part of a series including two other related photographs shown below in this post.

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

Early this April I spent four days in Death Valley National Park, mostly doing landscape photography. In particular I spent a good chunk of time at the Racetrack, shooting sunset, night photos under a full moon, and sunrise. I headed back to the more civilized areas of the valley around Furnace Creek, camping at Texas Springs and visiting all the usual places.

On this morning I joined a number of other photographers on the hill in front of the official overlook at Zabriskie Point, where we awaited the dawn and then the first light on Manley Beacon. As we watched and waited and photographed, it occurred to me that it could be interesting to photograph the photographers - so I moved my tripod back a bit and went at it.

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

This was a almost completely unanticipated idea - like everyone else, I was mainly there to shoot the more typical landscape photographs like this and this. (More here.) While I did end up with some landscape photos that I like - hard to go wrong at dawn at Zabriskie, right? - the people photos ended up being some of my favorites.

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

By the way, the group in the first photograph included some quite serious photographers, at least one of whom had been photographing the morning scene with a medium format digital camera. One of the things I like about that photo is, having finished their business, these serious photographers took time out for a fairly standard vacation shot. There are other things I like about this photo as well. Although it is difficult to see in this small web version, I love the three fellows' upturned faces illuminated in the early morning light. There is something interesting to me about the three of them crowded together as the female group member takes their photograph. Their are some formal/compositional things about it that I like also. I'll mention one: the arrow shape formed by the light line in the clouds, the striation in the ridge behind them, and the top of the ridge.

The Photograph, Zabriskie Point

2007-05-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Flickr, Photographers, and the Law

2007-05-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

From Photo Business News & Forum by John Harrington:

Flickr and the Law

Recently, I was having breakfast on a travel project with a colleague of mine. He asked of me "what's the big deal with Flickr? I don't get it. I don't see the benefit of being there, of taking the time to be on it. It's just for people to share their family photos, right? What does it help we professionals?" I reponded, telling him that Flickr is not just that, and that friends, prospective art directors, and so on, can make you a "friend", and then, whenever you post new photos, they turn up on their Flickr page. It's friends and these prospective clients are choosing to want to be alerted when you add photos, and it's all automatic and shows up on their own page straightaway! Further, properly tagged (think Keywords, Check here, for Stan Rowin's insights on this and a link to a report with even more information), people can find the photos, and get in touch with you, or, maybe, mis-use your photo.

Stan has other insights on Flickr here, but how do we, as professionals, not only leverage the value of Flickr, but also encourage fair and just use of our work there?

(Follow the link to the full post.)

I've begun experimenting with Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/gdanmitchell/) as a repository for my photographs, and I'm trying to get my mind around the whole contacts, friends, etc. business.

Erosion Detail, Zabriskie Point

2007-05-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway

2007-05-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Photographers, Zabriskie Point

2007-05-11T17:34:00.001-07:00

Most Valuable Photographic Tool?

2007-05-11T17:33:00.001-07:00

Jim Goldstein writes:

The Loss of My Most Valued Photographic Tool

... On this trip I lost something which previously I never gave much of a second thought to and which I've since realized is one of the most critical components of my photographic arsenal. What could possibly be so key and why?

The answer -- my cable release.

Keep in mind I'm not just talking about the impact of losing a piece of equipment. I'm talking about losing something that is an extension of ones mind and body critical to the creative process....

[JMG-Galleries]

(Click his title link to read the full post at his blog.)

I understand. Not only about forgetting something, but about how important this silly little thing called a cable release is to the process of making a photograph. There is something about setting up the shot and then waiting, cable release in hand, as light changes, clouds move across the ridge, people move in and out of position... and you stand back or to the side of the camera watching and waiting... and holding the cable release.

- Dan

This Could Be My New Photography Blog

2007-05-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

Having dealt with significant server problems during the past couple of weeks, I'm thinking of moving my photography blog off my home server. One possibility is to put it on this blogger.com site. I'm going to try parallel posting at my existing site (http://www.gdanmitchell.com) and here and see how it goes.

About

2007-01-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

{includeMessage(871,true,false,flprocessmacros:true)}

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"DanPhotoByTomClifton"
Dan Mitchell. Mission Peak. November 23, 2006. © Copyright Tom Clifton. Used by permission.

I use this site to post images "on the fly," along with information and observations. As sort of an "assignment to myself" I am attempting to post a new image almost every day. This forces me to seek out images I may have overlooked in my collection and to try to shoot more often. With that in mind, I don't expect every image to be brilliant, and neither should you. I try to post a short commentary on some images.
All photographs are © copyright G Dan Mitchell unless otherwise explicitly indicated. Any use requires advance permission. Many images may be purchased as prints and/or may be licensed for other uses with permission. See the "purchasing photographs" page for more information.

To see more photography visit dan's outside, my photo.net gallery and my Flickr gallery.

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Photography and Me

I started doing photography at a pretty young age. I can't tell you what year, but I'm sure it was in elementary school. My father was a professor of instructional technology and a talented amateur photographer. He had camera gear (including a big old Graflex) and a darkroom he would set up in the bathroom. He taught me to print black and white and he gave me good advice - that I probably didn't appreciate at the time. For example, he always told me to step closer to my subject. What he was really suggesting was that I had to think beyond how cool my subject seemed to me, and to visualize what it would ultimately look like as a print.

In high school I shot a lot of black and white photos, developing the film, and printing at home or (better yet) using the equipment at school.

By the time I was in my mid-twenties I had acquired a couple of Pentax 35mm cameras (MX and ME) along with a small set of lenses that I used a great deal on backpacking trips. On two-week trips my wife and I would often carry nearly 20 rolls of slide film.

As time went on I found that the camera gear was interfering with my backcountry experience. Eventually I stopped carrying the Pentax cameras and extra lenses. I gradually "slipped" to the point that I was carrying only a small Olympus Zoom camera and mostly just recording my experience, as opposed to making photographs.

Then came digital photography. I could take lots of photos and quickly see and edit them, learning quickly from the process. In addition, I could share pictures on the web. All of this rekindled my interest in photography.

I have gone through a series of digital cameras since that time:

Apple Quicktake camera. Does anyone else remember this camera? It was one of the first affordable digital cameras, though the quality was not good enough for much of anything beyond small images posted on the web.
Olympus D40. I took this little 4 megapixel camera on a three-week Alaska cycling tour since it was small and used AA batteries.
Canon Pro 1. This digicam was a great improvement since it is an 8 megapixel camera with a zoom lens equivalent to a 28mm-200mm lens on 35mm. The image quality is pretty decent if you understand the camera's limits, and it made a great backpacking camera.
Canon Digital Rebel XT. Small and lightweight with 8 megapixel resolution this camera can produce outstanding images, and this is a camera I can take almost anywhere.
Canon EOS 5D. Larger and heavier than the 350D/XT, but with a full frame 12 megapixel sensor, this camera can produce even higher quality images.

I carry a small selection of high quality lenses (see "Canon EF 17-40mm L f4 Lens", "Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS L Lens", Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L, Canon EF 50mm f1.4) along with a small set of filters and a carbon fiber tripod.

If you have looked around this site it should be obvious that I'm interested in more or less wild landscapes. However, I'm also intrigued by urban landscapes and other subjects.

Dan

"DanAtPtLobos2005|12|27"
Dan Mitchell. Point Lobos. December 27, 2005. © Copyright Jameson Mitchell.