Category Archives: Photographs: People

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

Waiting to Cross

Image November 23, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of pedestrians waits at a San Francisco cross walk.Her

Here is another recent San Francisco street photograph, this one made at the end of the work day as folks were heading home… and as the usual tourists were out and about, somewhere between seeing the sites and looking for a place to get dinner. Because it was not mid-autumn and Daylight Savings Time had ended, the sun was going down early enough to bring softer light at this time of day and to allow the various sources of artificial light to have a greater effect on the scene.

I generally prefer not to assign any particular ideas about a photograph like this one, instead allowing viewers to make their own associations and find whatever meaning makes sense to them. I will share that the variety of appearances and poses of these folks as they step off the curb attracted me. as did the interesting quality of the late-day light in the urban canyon.

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

Souvenir Shop, Night

Image November 11, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People in front of a colorful Chinatown souvenir shop at night, San Francisco.

A few years ago I began to photograph in San Francisco’s Chinatown district. At first the visits were simply connected to my street photography visits to The City, as this area happens to be on my route between several other areas I also photograph. As a Bay Area person I have visiting this spot for decades and, frankly, mostly regarded it as a tourist area. (In fact, portions of the “main drag” though the area do have largely that quality.) But eventually several things began to change my sense of the area. The first was deciding to not just walk the main tourist route, but to go a few blocks to either side. Second was to go there at the non-tourist times, for example in the early morning, when a walk along Stockton Street is a very different experience. Third was to photograph at night.

The first time I did the latter in this area was a few years back when some night photography friends suggested that we meet up for dinner there and then spend the evening photographing. I was entranced by the effect of the colorful lighting spilling onto the narrow streets and sidewalks, something that makes night photography a more viable option than on typical wide American urban streets. At about the same time I was introduced to Manhattan’s Chinatown district — a place that is both different from and similar to this San Francisco area — and I began to photograph both of them.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: People, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers

Charles Cramer In The Field

Image October 31, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I made this photograph of friend and photographer Charles “Charlie” Cramer at work in the John Muir Wilderness this past summer during our (more or less) annual group foray into the backcountry for a week or so of photography. I think that several of us found ourselves in more or less this spot… because backlight is wonderful and the sun was just clearing the ridge on the other side of this small lake.

For those who may not know about such things, a word or two about some elements of the photograph. The little rectangular object in his hands is a so-called “framing card” or “framing tool” — a very useful thing to have when you are looking for compositions, since it literally puts a frame around what you are looking at. (There are several jokes about these objects. For example, you really need to carry two of them — the landscape- and portrait-mode versions. And why does Charlie carry larger versions than I use? His are appropriately sized for medium format photography, while mine are for full frame cameras.) And what’s with Charlie standing in the bright sun without a hat! “Welllll…” (as he might say)… the hat was in use just a moment earlier as a sunshade to block stray light from the front of the lens. All joking aside, one wonderful side benefit of going into the field with other photographers is that we often manage to photograph one another!

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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: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer Charles Cramer

Image August 17, 2019 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Photographer Charles (“Charlie”) Cramer at work in the High Sierra of the John Muir Wilderness Area. A group of us spent a week base-camped in a particularly scenic portion of this wilderness area, heading out each day to find and photograph the abundant and beautiful subjects present here – ranging from the intimate (wlldflowers) to the monumental (the peaks of the Sierra crest).

The pace and nature of the work in a place like this might surprise those who haven’t experienced it. Many years ago, when my orientation to the backcountry was via long pack trips on which I moved every day, I worried that I would become bored if I stayed in the same place for more than a night. After years of doing just that, I realize how completely wrong I was. We can easily find a week’s worth of things to investigate and photograph in such places, and at the end of each trip I invariably end up wishing I could stay longer!