Chinatown Alley. San Francisco, California. July 15, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A nearly deserted Chinatown alley lined with trash cans, San Francisco.
On this mid-July morning as I walked from the Caltrain station to the Bay near North Beach, I passed through parts of San Francisco’s Chinatown district. I was there early enough that many of the shops on the short section of Grant Street that I visited were not open, and after making a few photographs there I headed west to Stockton Street where the real action is happening in the early morning. While I’m definitely the outsider here (most people seem to ignore me, though a few seem a bit amused by this guy with the camera), I enjoy visiting and photographing this area far more than the tourist zone down on Grant.
In the morning the place is intensely busy. Trucks line the street and disgorge boxes and boxes of produce and many people seem to be doing their shopping. Crowds line up at the bus stops, and every grocery store and market seems very busy. I don’t take too many photographs, most often focusing on architecture and colors. As I walked along the busy sidewalk and passed this side alley, several things caught my attention. First, unlike Stockton Street, it was almost deserted – a couple of people were walking down the alley and by the time I framed my photograph only one remained. (You’ll have to look closely.) While my first impression was that this was a dilapidated and messy place, upon further thought and observation it is actually very ordered. Considering the number of people in the area and that the alley is used at least partially for loading in and out of shops, there is actually very little litter. Small ramps have been set up in the gutter in a few places and the receptacles are lined up along the sidewalk. I wonder what the meaning is of the two pieces of cardboard stuck behind the pipes on the red wall at the right?
The light was also conducive to shooting here. On this typical San Francisco summer day – e.g. cold and windy and foggy! – the overcast softened the light and allowed it to fill the shadows and intensify some of the colors.
G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Tim, thanks for stopping by! Chinatown and night sounds intriguing. I’d like to try some handheld night stuff there. Did a bit of that in New York City last summer and it was a kick. (Love the shot at the link.)
The place is almost overwhelming rich. A while back I “discovered” the buildings overhead – my attention had been focused at street level. In the right light there is some phenomenal stuff going on up there. (One motif is the laundry that seems to be hung in every window!) And I like getting onto every street but the Chinatown main tourist drag up Grant. The real action seems to happening in those places.
I’ve printed all five of those images for the show at a smaller size, so they are ready to go. I’m thinking that tomorrow may be the day to print them at “show size” and then frame them when I return from Yosemite next weekend.
Take care,
Dan
Nice work Dan! I just taught a “one-nighter” in Chinatown – forgotten how visaully rich the place is, with a little work!
Psst! – Wanna see another alley – http://thenocturnes.blogspot.com/2011/07/npy-in-five-words-or-less-forget-it.html
Getting your prints together for “Mare Island Nocturnes” this week?