Monthly Archives: January 2009

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Empty Parking Lot Beneath Freeway

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Empty Parking Lot Beneath Freeway

Empty Parking Lot Beneath Freeway. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon winter light illuminates a parking lot beneath highway 87 in downtown San Jose, California.

Urban landscape photograph of a downtown San Jose, California empty parking lot beneath the highway 87 freeway in late afternoon light. Late on a Sunday afternoon during the weekend after New Years Day there was almost no one downtown, and clearly there were no cars in this parking lot.

(There is also a black and white version of this photograph that I may post here eventually.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: empty, late, afternoon, winter, evening, light, sun, illuminates, parking, lot, beneath, under, freeway, highway, overpass, flyover, 87, state, route, san jose, downtown, california, usa, fence, supports, light, sky, urban, street, structure, architecture, stock, concrete, cement

Commentary, Ideas

Printing is on my Mind

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There are so many more opportunities to see so much more photography today, given the astonishing number new electronic ways to share photographs and to find the photographs of others. Through blogs, Flickr, the many photo web sites and discussion forums, photographer’s web sites, email, you name it, we all experience a flood of visual media. While not all of it is great stuff, quite a lot of it is interesting and the sheer variety is astonishing. I don’t know how much time you spend intentionally looking at photographs, but I suspect that I may look at over 100 per day. (I’m not counting the images that we are exposed to by don’t actually give attention to – add those to the mix and the total would be much, much higher.)

But one thing has perhaps been lost in all of this, and that is the appreciation for the printed photograph. Continue reading Printing is on my Mind →

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tire Shop, Willow Street

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Tire Shop, Willow Street

Tire Shop, Willow Street. San Jose, California. December 26, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Entrance and front wall of an old Tire Shop on Willow Steet in San Jose California.

Another example of a functioning but dilapidated urban business in San Jose, California – and also photographed on an urban photography walk. I think of this, to some extent, as a counterpoint to the Hub Cap City photograph I posted earlier – they possess some obvious similarities and some obvious differences. One similarity that interests me, but not the only one, is that they both reflect the occupants more than a typical modern business; the hand painted signs and the personalized decoration (here very simple and almost absent, but at Hub Cap City almost completely over the top) have allowed the buildings to take on individual character from their occupants.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: tire, shop, wheel, picture, wall, 2888694, door, inside, dark, window, boarded up, tin, roof, corrugated, gray, wall, frame, sidewalk, driveway, willow, street, san Jose, california, usa, urban, structure, old, roof, sky, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Urban/Street

Twilight in the Urban Forest

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Twilight in the Urban Forest

Twilight in the Urban Forest. San Jose, California. January 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees and the side of an office building are illuminated by evening light reflected from the windows of a nearby building.

There is more than meets the eye in this photograph, and even when you think you have figured out why there is more than meets the eye I think there will still be more that you may not yet have noticed. I’ll continue to be enigmatic and say that “all is not what it seems in this photograph.” :-)

I will say that I made the photograph while wandering around downtown San Jose, California on an “urban photo walk” over the weekend, hunting for interesting street and urban images. This and all the photos I made that afternoon and evening were made in traditional “street” style using a 35mm prime.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: afternoon, building, california, city, county, downtown, evening, san jose, santa clara, urban, tree, forest, reflection, shadow, building, office, windows, side, sidewalk, plant, evening, golden hour, stock, illusion, twilight