Il Trovatore. San Francisco, California. July 12, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Two women near Il Trovatore, corner of Kearny and Broadway, San Francisco.
This is a simple (or maybe not so simple) street scene at the corner of Kearny and Broadway in San Francisco. I had wandered into this area on one of my street photography shoots in The City, on which I generally walk somewhat randomly through various parts of the town and shoot whatever catches my fancy.
I had just finished shooting the “Macchiarini Steps,” which are visible at the lower right. These very steep steps constitute the “sidewalk” on this short street, which is too steep for a normal sidewalk. I had first shot from Broadway, aiming up this hill, then decided to walk up the hill itself and shoot the steeps against the background of some rather dilapidated buildings. I managed to incorporate people into some of those shots using a technique that I often employ when shooting in the city: I treat the scene like a landscape and find a composition that seems to work, and then I wait for the right people to wander into the scene.
Eventually I walked back down this street and saw this juxtaposition of brick walls, red and green poles, the green and white colors of the upper-story “Il Trovatore” (which I assume is an Italian restaurant) and the more distant buildings with their faded colors against an overcast sky. I also liked the fact the very steep stairs ended up being parallel to the bottom of the frame. In addition to all that, this is also about colors: the red jacket on the woman crossing the street, the very red lamp post on the sidewalk, the red of the brick buildings; green colors of the chalk board, the restaurant, and the street sign; and then the odd bits of yellow on the sidewalk and the street.
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Joshua, thanks for your “not sure” comment. It actually makes a lot of sense, especially given that I originally overlooked this photograph last summer when I made it. I don’t think I quite got it yet at that time either, but I think I do now.
I wrote a bit about what I see in it in the original post. There are some things relating to angles and juxtapositions that I think can make it interesting. A few that I observe include:
– the diagonally opposed brick surfaces, one closer and the other farther away.
– the connection between the woman’s red jacket and the colors of the bricks and the odd red light pole.
– the dissonance between looking “straight into the photo” toward the distant building and following the faces of the closer buildings from right toward the left.
– the cement stairway is also an interesting element to think about. Although it climbs steeply to the right, it is actually parallel to the bottom of the frame – and I think that skews things in some interesting ways. (Imagine if instead of that hill, the area to the right was flat at the same level as the roadway.)
– the predominance of the complementary red and green tones.
All of that analysis aside – and it isn’t easy for me to analyze my own photographs that way – I also just sort of like it! :-)
Dan
Not sure why I like this photo. It’s probably the architecture, streets with no cars, and the walkers that add life.