Category Archives: Photographs: New York City

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

Iconic Magazines

Image January 21, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Mulberry Iconic Magazines at Kenmare and Mulberry Streets, Manhattan.

When I travel I often try to figure out what factors give a place its “quality,” that sometimes vague sense of the place that sets it apart from other locations. Sometimes, of course, certain aspects are pretty obvious — only one city has an Empire State Building, there’s only one Eiffel Tower, no other bridge is quite like the Golden Gate Bridge, not every city is filled with canals, and so on. One factor that I notice in quite a few large cities, but in a particular way in Manhattan, is the difference between the objective grittiness and even ugliness of many exteriors versus the often warm and inviting quality of personal interiors — people’s homes, many eating places, certain stores, and more.

Those worlds aren’t complete disconnected though, and especially in winter I feel that spots where light spills out from those interiors into the public space can connect them. This one happens to be on a street corner that might not otherwise seem particularly special, but it contrasts greatly with the rather grim exertion of the upper floors and with the street in front. (For the record, I do realize that my description above is not quite air-tight…)

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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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Restaurant For Rent

Image January 19, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of passers-by along the sidewalk in front of a Manhattan building underoing renovation.

There’s a conversation I’ve had a few times with painters in which we’ve addressed one of the most important differences between photography and painting. In most cases (ignoring exceptions that come with certain approaches to painting for the moment) the painter “knows” every element of the piece since he or she placed them all. It would be very surprising (though not quite impossible) for the artist to later discover some element that had previously been unobserved or that wasn’t where it was placed. A photograph is usually (though, again, there are a few exceptions) quite different in that the photographer can rarely know every single element of the subject. Instead, the photographer finds a scene/subject whose broad outlines and primary focus are “right,” makes a photograph (and, yes, there are a few other steps I’ve left out) and cannot know every single component of the image, leaving the possibility of later discovery.

I think this is true in just about all photography, but it is especially the case with street photography, where the scene is often very complex and the elements and their interactions are evolving quickly and constantly. Often the photography must work very quickly and intuitively, frequently with little time for reflection before making an exposure. And then, what we end up with is a tiny fractional slice of what was “happening,” a slice that takes on a sense of painting-like permanence, even though it derived from something that was wholly in flux.

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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

Abandoned Glove

Image January 18, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

From my point of view, this is one of those photographs that is about what it is and about what else it is. (Admittedly, it is also a photograph whose capture may have led a few people around me at the time to… wonder.) The objective facts are straightforward. I had paused at the curb to wait for a green crossing light. I looked down into the gutter and saw this scene, in particular the plastic white glove between the red and yellow spaces. I made a few exposures before continuing as the light turned green.

You can make what you want of such a photograph. It is partly a reflection on finding things of visual interest everywhere, even in gutters. In addition, perhaps you may see some interesting graphic, abstract quality to it that goes beyond the literal objects in the frame. If you look closely you can see a bit of a reflection. Beyond that… I’ll leave it to you.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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

Smoke Shop

Image January 16, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Something a bit unusual happened regarding this photograph. I originally posted “it” a couple of week ago, but in a version that used a”portrait” mode aspect ratio. In my initial way of seeing the photograph, that is what I had in mind, partly because I wanted the figure to look very small by comparison to other features and partly because there was something in the upper part of the frame that I thought I wanted to include. But literally within minutes of sharing the image I reconsidered and began to feel that a square crop would be more effective. It allows the figure to be a bit larger, removes an unnecessary distraction that dominated the upper frame, and generally seems to produce a more effective composition.

These things happen! And because one of my reasons for sharing daily photographs is to reveal the ongoing “practice” of making my photographs, I am willing to be a bit open about my thinking and its evolution. First choices are often good choices… except when they aren’t. The particular trap I originally fell into is one that I’m usually on guard against, namely getting so attached to some marginal element of a photograph (in this case it was a sign in the upper portion of the frame) that I failed to see past it and recognize that the image would be stronger by removing that secondary subject.