Category Archives: Photographs: New York City

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Museum Windows, Central Park

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Museum Windows, Central Park
Visitors sit in a Metropolitan Museum window overlooking Central Park, Manhattan

Museum Windows, Central Park. New York City. December 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors sit in a Metropolitan Museum window overlooking Central Park, Manhattan

At the end of 2017 we spent a week in New York City, mostly visiting our “kids,” but also visiting the city itself. It was a very cold week! Daytime temperatures stayed below freezing — sometimes way below — for five days straight, and nighttime temperatures were in the low teens. On a warm day in New York, it is great to be outside. On winter days like these it is also great to be outdoors in Manhattan… just not for very long! On this day we eventually joined the throngs headed to warm museums, picking the Met, where there is a big David Hockney exhibit that I wanted to see.

I photograph in New York often enough to begin to understand the place a little bit — though nowhere near to the level of those who live there. But I still have plenty to discover, and on this trip I discovered — realized, more accurately — in a conscious way how good the light can be there. This is especially so, I think, in winter. The sun is low in the sky and its light often comes in a low angles, reflecting and silhouetting, and frequently appearing right in my frame of view. I made this photograph quickly while walking through a hallway at the museum where groups of people were taking a break on the ledge of these windows, against the bright backdrop of a soft-focus view of Central Park trees and a bit of the Manhattan skyline.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hockney Observed

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Hockney Observed
Two museum visitors observe a David Hockney Painting

Hockney Observed. New York City. December 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two museum visitors observe a David Hockney Painting

We have been in New York City during the past week or so, on one of our frequent trips to visit sons and daughters-in-law there… and of course to also simply be in New York. (And, did I also mention “eat in New York?”) It has been cold — something like 10-15 degrees below normal during our visit — and among the practical cold weather activities here are museum visits. We already knew we wanted to see this David Hockney exhibit — we had seen the big Hockney exhibit in San Francisco a few years ago, and we just saw a SF Opera production of “Turandot” that used a Hockney-designed set.

So we joined the throngs on a very cold day at the Metropolitan Museum and went inside to see this exhibit. (Having not done our research ahead of time, we were unaware of the Michelangelo show also taking place, but we managed to visit that, too.) The exhibit was, not surprisingly, very popular and crowded, with a variety of work from across Hockney’s career — lots of the usual stuff, including two of his Grand Canyon landscape paintings. I made this photograph as two people stopped to view one of them.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hi-Tech Electronics

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Hi-Tech Electronics
Man crosses street in front of Hi-Tech Electronics store, Manhattan

Hi-Tech Electronics. New York City. July 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Man crosses street in front of Hi-Tech Electronics store, Manhattan

I made this photograph on a quick walk through a slightly seedy area of Manhattan, passing through on a hot afternoon as many people filled the streets. (It actually was crowded, despite the appearance in this photograph.) The area is one of somewhat run-down businesses in one of those pockets where there are not so many tall buildings.

I see many things when doing street photography. Some of them are static enough that I can take some time to make the photograph, but others happen instantaneously and are gone in an instant — they require a “shoot without thinking” kind of response — and that was the case with this one. Obviously, the man walking toward me was only there for a moment, but even better was the brief conjunction of red things in the frame. A close look may reveal even more of them that you notice at first.

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

Ristorante Luna

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Ristorante Luna
A sidewalk tableau in front of Ristorante Luna, Little Italy

Ristorante Luna. New York City. July 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sidewalk tableau in front of Ristorante Luna, Little Italy

This is another photograph from one of my night walks in the area around Little Italy in Manhattan last July during a weeklong visit to the city. It is a touristy area, but that does mean that there is a great variety of people around and that there is plenty of ambient light spilling onto sidewalks and even into the street at night — all of which is good news for night street photography.

Photographs like this one are not unrelated to my landscape photography. In fact, they often begin as urban landscapes. I find a location that interested me — it could be a storefront, a restaurant, a street vendor, a bit of architecture, or a place with interesting light — and then I wait for people to assemble themselves inside this landscape in ways that seem interesting. This is a matter of patience, luck, and perhaps interactions between people passing through the space. Eventually a tableau with a certain kind of balance may emerge, and you might be able to imagine stories about the people and their interactions.

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.