Category Archives: Photographs: France

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel

Window and Plants

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Lush plants grow around a window of a stone building in Barbizon, France

Window and Plants. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lush plants grow around a window of a stone building in Barbizon, France

Today I continue with my back-and-forth between photographs from a lengthy summer visit to several European countries and a following week-plus backcountry Sierra Nevada photography trip. Today it is back to Europe. (Anyone getting whiplash yet?)

Near the end of our trip we joined members of our extended American and European family for a week at a house in the French countryside near Fontainebleau. We have been doing something like this every other summer for the past few years — we get together, hang out, cook and eat, travel around a bit, and generally have a good and slightly lazy time. To be a bit more specific about our location, we were (just barely) walking distance from the village of Barbizon, which gives the appearance of being a sort of artist community, or at least a place where people attracted to that identity have chosen to live. It is a lovely little village and we visited several times, including near the end of the trip when I made this photograph of the plant-covered window of a local building.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Parked Scooter

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Parked Scooter
A scooter parked along a Paris street

Parked Scooter. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A scooter parked along a Paris street

I saw this scooter parked along a street in Paris — in the Le Marais area, if I recall correctly. In many urban European areas, at least that I’ve seen, such things are ubiquitous, along with the many urban bicycles. Here there is really little or no room for a car, but it is possible to squeeze in a bike or a scooter. The retro styling of these things is a lot of fun — they have an appearance that seems like it might have felt hyper-modern… about 40-50 years ago.

The scooter also reminds me of something that I rediscover to varying degrees when I travel, namely how much of what we do and expect is conditioned by familiarity with places and their customs. At one point on this trip we rented a car to drive from Paris (CDG airport) to a location southwest of the city where we would stay for a week. The area was semi-rural, but with towns and villages here and there. Driving in such places would be second-nature to me in the USA, but in France it was anything but! I had to actually try to understand and interpret traffic signs and graphics, something that takes considerably longer when the signs are unfamiliar and one is not a speaker of the local language. Even something as simple as knowing, for example, that it is apparently OK to park a scooter in a place like this would be an utter mystery.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France

Le Cirque de Venise

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Le Cirque de Venise
A stone wall, a weathered door, and an advertisement for a circus, near Barbizon, France

Le Cirque de Venise. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stone wall, a weathered door, and an advertisement for a circus, near Barbizon, France

Near the end of this past summer’s lengthy travels (from New York to London, to many areas in Europe) we ended up in France, not far from Fontainebleau, where we joined members of our extended family for a week at a big old house we rented. After all of the previous travels from place to place, typically stopping in one city for no more than four nights, it was a relief to stay in one place for a week and to have time to slow down a bit.

Near the end of this stay, one morning we all decided to walk to the nearby town of Barbizon. Like so much in France, this place was virtually unknown to me. We walked through some fields and along a country road to get there, arriving to visit the studio of the artist Millet and to have lunch. Along the way I spotted this sign for what I assume to be a traveling circus.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street, Photographs: White Mountains

Open Gate and Courtyard

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Open Gate and Courtyard
A gate opens to a courtyard, Paris

Open Gate and Courtyard. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gate opens to a courtyard, Paris

This photograph was one in a series of quick snaps — street photography done while on the move, with barely time to stop and compose the image. We ended up here almost by accident. We were working our way towards a museum at which there was an exhibit of photography that seemed interesting, and our route took us through this old area.

The gate was open as we walked past, revealing an interior courtyard. It was entirely empty, except for one very well dressed man, sitting on a step near the wall and staring intently at his cell phone.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.