Category Archives: Photographs: Night

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

8 AV and Jane St

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8 AV and Jane St
A winter evening at the corner of 8th Avenue and Jane Street, Manhattan

8 AV and Jane St. New York City. December 27, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A winter evening at the corner of 8th Avenue and Jane Street, Manhattan

Continuing my photographic bipolar swings between the natural world and the human world, here is another street photograph. It ties in with a couple of things that I’ve been thinking about recently in my street photography. First, it is an example of night street photography, shot handheld in near darkness using a small camera and high ISO. A year and a half ago I suddenly realized that this kind of photography had become a realistic possibility with the newer high ISO cameras. As a person who has long done long-exposure night photography from the tripod, this was truly a revelation. Secondly, I’m crazy about photographing lighted buildings, stores, restaurants and the light that spills from them onto the sidewalk, street, and anyone who happens to be passing by.

Aside from the general way that I’m always on the lookout for such things, this photograph was almost an accident. We had spent the afternoon at the new Whitney Museum. Those who know me have come to understand my predilection for spending way too much time going way too slowly through museums, and those people eventually give up and move on to other things, leaving me to continue ambling past the art. On this visit some of the people I was with had more or less “done” the Whitney in about and hour and a half — at which point I had more or less finished one floor of the place! We decided that they would all go ahead and find a place to eat and drink, and they ended up at a little tavern across the street from this photograph. I showed up hours later and joined them for food and beer, and we finally left the place after dark. As soon as I walked outside I saw this building across the street.

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

Man in White, Mosco Street

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Man in White, Mosco Street
A man dressed in white takes a break outside of a Mosco Street kitchen, New York

Man in White, Mosco Street. December 24, 2015. New York, New York. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man dressed in white takes a break outside of a Mosco Street kitchen, New York

Christmas Eve in New York City.Earlier in the day we had wandered around in midtown, making photographs in cloudy and occasionally drizzly conditions. Eventually we made it up to near Central Park to join our younger son and his future wife at a place where he proposed to her earlier this year. Then we wandered down along the park and across to join the mob scene on Fifth Avenue until the crowds become overwhelming.

Time for dinner, so we head to Chinatown, where there is a restaurant at which we’ve eaten with our sons on a few previous Christmas visits. It is supposed to be — and it was — a place that is good but not necessarily widely known. We arrive and find that the wait is “at least an hour and a half.” As someone later said, “The cat is out of the bag.” We quickly figure out that most of the other nearby restaurants are nearly as crowded, so we decide to walk a few blocks to a Vietnamese place. As we walk down Mosco Street a cook takes a break on the sidewalk, lit by the light spilling out of the door to the kitchen.

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: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Concrete Shadows

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Concrete Shadows
Light and shadow play across the surfaces of concrete structures, night

Concrete Shadows. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light and shadow play across the surfaces of concrete structures, night

This is another of my “quiet” photographs from this nighttime visit to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. Driving to the place this time I had decided that I wanted to spend some time not photographing the familiar subjects there. (Later that night I did photograph some of those, too.) I had some vague ideas in mind that involved textures and angles and effects of light, along with some other thoughts. As I drove into the area in the late afternoon I picked out a few likely spots to return to after dark.

The area of this photograph turned out be a productive one for me on this evening. I have always walked right past this building on previous visits, but one thing led to another and I ended up pausing there this time. The spot is a perfect example of how the mysterious light of night can transform a truly pedestrian subject into something interesting. This is the corner of a building and a short concrete pad that runs up against crude concrete walls that apparently hold a hillside at bay. But at night an overhead security light casts illumination straight down across the surface of the concrete wall, and produces a pool of light at its base. The nearer walls pick up subtle and colorful light from across the bay in the town of Vallejo.

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+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Another Corner, Night

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Another Corner, Night
A meeting place between planes of concrete, night

Another Corner, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A meeting place between planes of concrete, night

The historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, especially at night, is a visually compelling location with a lot of large eye-catching features. This include the towering ship yard structures near the dry dock, the tower of the old power station, the huge factory buildings, old officers’ housing, and the ships that are sometimes tied up here or in dry dock. It is easy to spend a lot of time photographing these subjects with wonderful results.

On this visit I was, at least initially, less interested in those things. Instead I slowed down and went looking for hidden surprises — textures, pools of light, juxtapositions, color, and quiet places. Before long I found myself in a small area near the front of a dark building where concrete formations were lit by security lights and by the glow from the town of Vallejo across the water, and I stopped here for almost an hour to quietly make quiet photographs.

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+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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