Category Archives: Photographs: Night

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Open Door and Stairway, Night

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Open Door and Stairway, Night
“Open Door and Stairway, Night” — The entrance to someone’s Chinatown home, San Francisco.

Originally I contemplated adding this to the “Postcards From Pandemic” series — the mood and subject seem about right. In the end I did not, since I’ve decided that those photographs will all be made during the lock-down and whatever follows. This photograph is almost five years old.

There is, for me, a lot to ponder in this photograph. Let’s start with the obvious — it is not a pretty picture. Despite the fact that the scene is so gritty, I was attracted by the colors, textures, and all that stuff, apart from the underlying reality of the scene. But, obviously, we have to ask some questions about a scene like this: Who lives here? What must it be like to enter your home through such a portal?

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Meat Centre

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Meat Centre
Interior of the Meat Centre after closing time, Manhattan

Meat Centre. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interior of the Meat Centre after closing time, Manhattan.

Businesses like this one, located along the edge (as I understand it) of Manhattan’s Chinatown district, fascinate me. There is often a sort of rough edge about them, but it implies that they are places where real work is done, and not that they are unkempt or that the owners and workers do not care. Quite to the contrary, as I look around this scene I see that essentially everything in it has a distinct place and a real-world purpose.

Technically this is a kind of “night photograph,” since I made the image while walking along a dark street and looking into this and similar businesses. Aside from restaurants and drinking establishments and the ubiquitous convenience stores, most of the businesses like this one were closed or closing. Here, the appearance suggests that the place has been cleaned up and organized at the end of the work day.

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: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Old Police Headquarters, Evening

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Old Police Headquarters, Evening
The dome of the Old Police Headquarters on a Manhattan winter evening.

Old Police Headquarters, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The dome of the Old Police Headquarters on a Manhattan winter evening.

This is another photograph from our long afternoon and evening walk from more or less Midtown down to Lower Manhattan along a route that kept us off many of the main streets and gave us a look at somewhat more intimate scenes along the way. All of the recent evening photographs that I have posted from Manhattan were made on this walk. (Eventually we ended up at Manhatta, on the 6oth floor of a building with stupendous views over the city and its surroundings.)

When I went to work on this photograph I realized that I had no idea what the dome-topped building is. By looking at photographs made just before and after this one, and by enlarging the image enough to (barely) make out the name on a street sign, I was eventually able to identify it on a digital map of Manhattan. Apparently it is, as the title states, the “Old Place Headquarters.” It is, at least from this angle, a pretty notable piece of old style architecture, especially with that impressive dome.

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 | 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: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Manhattan Food Cart, Night

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Halal Food Cart, Night
A sidewalk halal food cart at night, Manhattan

This photograph ties together several things that interest and fascinate me about photographing in the urban environment, particularly at night. One feature is how the night can transform subjects that would look quite different in the daytime — and now that modern cameras are good enough in very low light to permit us to do street photography at night we can more readily work with these transformed subjects. At night the light of cities, which some sometimes be almost as fascinating as state lighting, highlight particular aspects of the scene and can create a kind of mystery that isn’t there in the day time. After all, how much attention might you pay to a couple of people being a quick meal from a food cart during the day?

The initial subject here was the two individuals standing at the cart and placing an order with the fellow who works there. They are the center of the image for compositional reasons, for narrative reasons, and because they are in the light! But that reflective sidewalk is interesting to me, too, and having it broken up by passing figures makes it more so — and the two dark figures frame the central focus.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.