Category Archives: Photographs: New York City

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mural, Midtown Manhattan

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Mural, Midtown Manhattan
Pedestrians work in front of a building featuring a colorful OKUDART mural in midtown Manhattan.

Mural, Midtown Manhattan. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Pedestrians work in front of a building featuring a colorful OKUDART mural in midtown Manhattan.

Something fun to share today — a photograph of this spectacular mural-covered building in Midtown Manhattan, featuring the work of Spanish artist Okuda. It isn’t unusual for me to (selectively) include street art in my street photographs, especially when the work is interesting and fits into the larger street landscape. On the other hand, it sometimes feels a little odd to feature someone else’s art in my own photographic work. In this case, I think it is as much about an aspect of New York City as anything else… so I’m going with it.

I was initially photographing most people (and to a lesser extent buildings) as we walked around Manhattan this past August. I made several other photographs of people, often in crosswalks, as we passed through this area. But this building is so striking that I made a couple of exposures of it as I passed by. One thing leads to another, and later I looked up the building and the artist and discovered that Okuda has work all over the world.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Stripes

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Stripes
A woman wearing a striped outfit uses a cross walk in Manhattan.

Stripes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A woman wearing a striped outfit uses a cross walk in Manhattan.

This photograph comes from a long, looping walk in Manhattan. We were staying at an Upper West Side hotel last month, and there were good walking opportunities all around — Central Park a few blocks to the East, down Broadway and into that maelstrom of human activity a bit to the south, across the park and into the Upper East Side, walking along the waterfront on either side. On this walk we ended up near the UN Plaza, which is where I made this photograph.

Stuff happens quickly in the street, and I often have to simply react immediately using whatever lens is on the camera — taking too long to fiddle with lenses or frame the perfect shot and there’s a good chance the opportunity will be gone. I had just a few seconds to photograph this slightly unusual character in the long striped dress as she stepped out on the striped crosswalk.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Family

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A Family
A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

A Family. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A passing family group on the street in Manhattan.

As scheduled, it is back to more street photography today. This photograph comes from our late-August visit to Manhattan, which provided us with opportunities to simply go out on walks and observe/absorb the Manhattan vibe. That is, of course, a complex thing, being composed of lots of people, lots of motion, the urban canyons, occasional bits of quiet and stillness, and a lot of things that happen quickly and are gone. The latter, of course, is part of the appeal of street photography.

I recommend urban and street photography to all photographers, including those of you who like think of yourselves and landscape or nature photographers. As a general thing, I think it is good for you and for your photography to step outside your primary genre and to be aware of good photographic work done with subjects quite different than your own. On a very practical level, shooting street forces you to see, think, and react really quickly. Quite often subjects coalesce and disappear in seconds or even fractions of seconds. You don’t have much time to carefully consider, so you work on the basis of instinct. And that is a useful skill to develop, even if you usually work at a more sedate pace. Street also reminds us of how we make photographs of things that we don’t have time to fully evaluate or understand. For example, while I call this photograph “A Family,” I can’t know that it is a family group. And while I might make be tempted to make other assumptions about this trio… I have no way at all of knowing whether I’m right or wrong. It is better, I think, to just ask questions.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting For Walking Man

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Waiting For Walking Man
New Yorkers (and a few tourists) queue up at a crosswalk in Manhattan.

Waiting For Walking Man. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

New Yorkers (and a few tourists) queue up at a crosswalk in Manhattan.

After promising New York street photography for the past few days — and then sharing cool mountain images instead — here’s a photograph from our recent, late-August visit to Manhattan. (This was the same trip that eventually took us up to Vermont woods. ) Our previous New York City visit was last winter, when the city was in the throes of a very bad peak in the covid epidemic. At that time the whole place seemed almost oppressive. This trip felt different — more like the New York we remember from the before times. It is still not back to normal, but we were able to get out and walk a lot and the sense of dread that was in the air last winter was gone.

I’m fascinated by almost everything visual in Manhattan — the crowds, individuals, the architecture, the urban landscape, and more. I almost always walk around with a camera handy and often keep it literally in hand. That was the case as we walked through a busier section of town and I photographed this group of people queued up at the crosswalk. A closer look reveals quite a variety of people and appearances — there’s a shirtless guy int he crosswalk at left, the anxious people trying to get a head start on crossing the street, the woman near the left with the 1000 mile stare, one guy with a mask on, 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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