Black and white photograph of narrow urban canyon that is Maiden Lake, in the financial district of New York City.
This street scene is in lower Manhattan, not far from the site of the World Trade Center towers. The morning light seems especially interesting on this curving street as the sun manages to penetrate all the way to the street level and the illuminated fronts of the buildings lining the “concrete canyon” are visible due to the curve.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Morning fog clears from the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.
Last week I made a quick trip north of San Francisco to photograph in the morning at Muir Woods National Monument in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. My habit is to be on the road early enough to arrive at Muir Woods before the crowds arrive, and this almost always means that I cross the Golden Gate quite early in the morning, sometimes at dawn and sometimes a bit later. As I go across the bridge I keep my eyes open for special or unusual conditions – I no longer stop every time, but I do if the scene looks more interesting than usual.
This morning was unusual. It was extremely hot and dry inland, yet the offshore fog bank was making a valiant (and ultimately unsuccessful) effort to push its way through the Golden Gate past the bridge. The fog was not deep and it could only sustain itself where there was plenty of water or as it passed directly over the hills on either side of the entrance to the Bay. This meant that light was coming through the fog and it was intermittently coming and going along the edge of its incursion into the warmer air. So, I stopped.
This photograph looks back across a section of the bay that is fog covered and brightly back lit by the morning light, with the higher fog trying to push across the shoulder of the hills of the Marin headlands with the distant view of the San Francisco skyline beyond.
On a technical note, I used a 50mm prime lens for this photograph – the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. I switched to the prime from my more typical zoom for several reasons. First, this composition seemed to work with the 50mm focal length. Second, this 50mm prime is a really excellent lens for landscape and similar work, providing outstanding resolution at the apertures typically used. Finally, I had the luxury of not having to work quickly – so I could rely on a prime with the “right” focal length rather than working with the zoom.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
People taking a summer evening walk along the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea with the IAC Building and the 100 11th Building in the background, New York City.
I only spent a short time on one evening walking along the High Line Park, but I certainly found it to be an intriguing place, and one that I intend to visit again. I first stopped to photograph this spot when I saw a couple of musicians performing on the bench just beyond the people walking and standing in the foreground. But the “urban landscape” of buildings beyond is obviously very striking, especially in the evening light. I cannot identify all of the buildings in the photograph – my first attempts to find them via Google maps failed because the buildings are so new that you only see empty space and construction sites there. I finally determined that the building on the left with the “swooping” lines is the IAC Building, designed by Frank Gehry – which is obvious in retrospect. The taller building in the background (which I had taken to calling the “Mondrian building”) is the “100 11th” building, designed by a French architect named Nouvel.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
Brick walls and a building under construction above the High Line Elevated Park, New York City.
Another bit of architecture photographed from the High Line Elevated Park in Chelsea on a summer evening in August. The most interesting features of this evening included the “mackerel sky” clouds to the west, which are reflected in the windows of the upper building, and the warm light of early evening. The juxtapositions of angles and textures (especially the bricks and the glass windows) got my attention as we walked along the High Line. I cannot identify the building, but it appears to be under construction.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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