Category Archives: Photographs: New York City

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hockney Observed

December 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

December 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

December 3, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

Noodle Shop

December 1, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A single nighttime diner in a Manhattan noodle shop on a dark street

I suppose it is because I plan to be there again soon, but I’ve been going back through some earlier photographs from New York City this week, and especially focusing on photographs I made at night there last July. While staying in a busy part of the city (yeah, I know, all the parts are busy…) where there are lots of small business and lots of people I managed to get out frequently and wander with my camera. Most of the neighborhood tended to be quite crowded and busy, with lots of light. However, a few of the side streets included quieter spots where there were no crowds, especially late at night, including this street where there was only one person still eating in this noodle shop.

With photographs like this, especially when rendered in black and white, there is a lot of creative latitude when it comes to deciding how to interpret the scene. I’m generally not a big fan — with some exceptions — of allowing highlights to completely blow out, so the brightly lit areas set a sort of limit on how light I can go. I want to see at least some detail in almost all areas of the photograph, even in the deep shadows, so I often have to do some careful work during the post processing stages to get what I want from these dark area. It is tricky — too dark and all detail is lost, but too light and the shadows end up gray and the mystery is gone. In this photograph I wanted most of the image to feel very dark, with only the three brightly lit areas standing out.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: New York City

Hockney Observed

Hi-Tech Electronics

Ristorante Luna

Noodle Shop

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.