Fire Escape Ladder, Brick Building. New York, New York. August 24, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
On the final morning of our August (2011) visit to New York City, we took the subway down toward the lower end of the island to meet our son – the plan being to walk though Soho and (I think) the West Village, ending up at a gallery in Chelsea. After taking care of the most pressing bit of initial business – coffee – we wandered on through Soho… and I think this photograph was made there.
New Yorkers undoubtedly know exactly is going on with this light, but for the rest of the world… the morning sun was passing through a relatively narrow gap between buildings to strike this brick wall and partially pick off this green emergency exit zigzagging down the front of this building. In a lot of ways, this isn’t totally different from shooting natural landscapes – go out early, look for interesting subjects, find good light, make photographs. It isn’t totally the same – duh! – either. Not only can you walk here from coffee, but we (my son and I) shot without tripods, and I stuck to a single 50mm prime to keep things simple.
G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts when this page is viewed on the web. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)
That makes sense, Anton. It is interesting that we have similar types of ladders in San Francisco… but hardly any brick buildings at all, with most instead being wooden or perhaps stucco.
What I mean is that these cities are very close in architecture including those fire escape ladders.
Hey, I like to think that the same beautiful light can fall anywhere – even on a street in Manhattan. :-)
I love my Toronto for being so close to this. Also if you are lucky to catch some fog in the morning — mmmm! Or in the evening:
Well seen Dan. I love how the light hits the building right where the ladder is. :)