Category Archives: Photographs: France

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel

Paris, From Sacre Couer

Leave a comment
Paris, From Sacre Couer
Overlooking Paris from Sacre Couer on a cloudy evening

Paris, From Sacre Couer. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Overlooking Paris from Sacre Couer on a cloudy evening

I never get tired of telling a story on us, a story about our first evening in Paris. Last summer, in 2016, we traveled for about five weeks, visiting a number of places from New York to London, Paris, Heidelberg, and finally ending up in Italy. We had been to some of these places before, but this was our first visit to Paris and Italy. On the first afternoon in Paris we managed to only slightly confuse ourselves finding our hotel, but we soon resolved that and got settled in for a weeklong stay.

In the early evening we decided to head out. First we wanted to find espresso — and just to tell you how naive we were, we looked long and hard to find an espresso place. (Yes, anyone who has visited Paris is laughing at that. We learned. Quickly.) Then we set out on more or less a random walk around the hotel in the Montmartre district. Eventually we came to a hill, and there was a tram. Now this looked interesting. We decided to walk up the hill and at the top we “discovered” a rather impressive church, from which there was an expansive view of much of Paris. What a wonderful discovery. Oh, wait, this is a pretty famous place, Sacre Couer. :-)

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Eiffel Tower, Clouds

Leave a comment

Eiffel Tower, Clouds
Thin clouds in bright summer sky above the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower, Clouds. Paris, France. August 12, 2016. © Copyright 201 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thin clouds in bright summer sky above the Eiffel Tower

It was Paris, so I had to photograph the Eiffel Tower. It is expected of me. It is an iconic site and it is impressive in person. But I found it to be a difficult photographic subject. It is easy to photograph it, but I found it tricky to find a way to not just make a picture of the Eiffel Tower. (On the other hand, I did almost exactly that on one evening late in our visit when we had a view from an upper story towards to tower as it got dark and the lights on the tower were illuminated.)

In any case, I decided to try some relatively tightly cropped photographs of the structure, some of which were much tighter than this one. But I got lucky, and some thin, fluffy clouds floated over in the midday light, producing a soft and glowing quality in the sky, and this seemed to contrast nicely with the start, strong, and dark form of the tower.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre

Leave a comment

Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre
Evening on a street corner in Montmartre, Paris

Street Corner, Evening, Montmartre. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening on a street corner in Montmartre, Paris

In the summer of 2016, on our first evening in Paris, we went out wandering in Montmartre. We more or less had no idea where we were going, but eventually our random walk took us to a popular destination with a view over Paris, and then it was time to eat. As Paris novices it took us, believe it or not, a while to figure out where to eat. Yeah, I know. In Paris?

After eating in one of the numerous cafes in Montmartre we walked some more, mostly just wandering up and down the narrow streets to see what we could see. It was a long summer twilight and I was able to photograph on into the evening. In places there were lots of people, but on other streets there seemed to be almost no one, and here and there we found surprising and even odd little bits of street art and similar things. I want to think that this image on the wall might have been street art, but it could also have been some kind of shrine.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Polka Dot Dresses

Leave a comment

Polka Dot Dresses
Polka dot dresses hanging at a Paris shop

Polka Dot Dresses. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Polka dot dresses hanging at a Paris shop

This photograph could be many things, but among them might be a warning about what it is like to travel with me or visit any place with “things to see.” When I travel I virtually always have a camera on my person, if not actually in my hand. My photographer sense isn’t necessarily always “on,” but when it is I can be distracted by almost any sort of visual subject.

Sometimes I look for profound or iconic subjects, and I may spend a fair amount of time finding what I’m looking for and figuring out how to photograph it. At other times, as in the case of this photograph, I’ll make a picture of almost anything that happens to catch my attention, frequently working quickly and then moving on. My recollection is that I must have seen this rack of polka-dot patterned dresses in a shop window or sidewalk display while out walking in Paris.

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 | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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