Category Archives: Photographs: People

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

Morning, Caffe Trieste

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Morning, Caffe Trieste
Patrons in line for coffee at Caffe Trieste, San Francisco.

Morning, Caffe Trieste. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patrons in line for coffee at Caffe Trieste, San Francisco.

Last week I spend considerable time in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. I’m a member of Studio Nocturne a group of night photographers (descended from “The Nocturnes”) who have been photographing and exhibiting together for decades. Every fall we do an “open studio” as part of The City’s Artspan Open Studio event. This year we were in the Live Worms Gallery on Grant in North Beach. We’ve been in various locations over the years, and I think this may have been one of the best spots we’ve used — lots of foot traffic, lots of places nearby to eat and drink, great atmosphere. (Terrible parking though!)

Each day I arrived an hour or so before we opened, and on the last day, Sunday, I headed a half block up Grant to this famous espresso shop. You might not know it if you just dropped in on a Sunday morning, like I did, but this is a somewhat historic location in San Francisco. In addition to being a meeting place for all sorts of interesting folks for years, it was the first espresso bar on the West Coast.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: People, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Twins

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Twins
Twin sisters and other pedestrians along a Manhattan sidewalk.

Twins. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twin sisters and other pedestrians along a Manhattan sidewalk.

Given that many people have had it much harder than I have during the pandemic, I can’t really complain. However, recently I’ve been missing travel (at least of the urban sort) and large crowds of people along busy streets, on transit, in restaurants, at concerts. I’m especially missing New York and its crazy energy. We have relatives there and typically visit a couple of times each year… but the last visit was in December of 2019, just months before everything shut down. I think that the short-lived feeling that we were emerging from all of this in the early summer has interfered with the optimism that we were starting to feel. This will eventually be behind us, but it is going to take longer than we hoped.

I grabbed this little street vignette in Manhattan during that last visit. When I saw these two women approaching — apparently twins, wearing the same clothes and carrying nearly identical bags — I quickly squeezed off a single frame here they were gone. Technically, it was a terrible photograph! It was badly tilted and not framed very well. But with some post-processing magic I think I was able to make it work. I wonder… is there a pair of twins like this in every big city? There were two women in San Francisco for years who went out dressed identically just like this.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pointing The Way

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Pointing The Way
A man in holiday attire gives directions to a pedestrian in Manhattan.

Pointing The Way. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man in holiday attire gives directions to a pedestrian in Manhattan.

This photograph was what I think of as a classic street photography “snap,” grabbed quickly while on the move past the subjects on a Manhattan sidewalk. Based on my recall of the moment and the low position of the camera, it is pretty likely that I make the exposure without even raising the camera to my eye, possibly not having time to do so and/or wanting to avoid creating my own intrusion on the scene.

If you like such subjects, there are a lot of different ways to “see” them as photographs. In this one there is the unusual attire of the fellow, who I suspect is a security guard working outside this building — during the holiday season such people must occasionally wear bright red shirts, Santa hats, and holiday light necklaces, which is not your typical security guard attire. He looms large in the frame — he is taller than the women, she stands further away and to the side, and his pointing motion gives him an active demeanor. I also like certain compositional aspects of the photograph, and I simply find the two people to be fascinating.

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: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brandon In Manhattan

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Brandon In Manhattan
Brandon Mitchell on the streets of Manhattan

Brandon In Manhattan. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brandon on the streets of Manhattan.

This is, technically speaking, a family photograph. This is the oldest of our three “kids,” in a photograph I made near the end of December, along some street somewhere between Midtown and Lower Manhattan as we took a very long afternoon and early evening walk in New York City.

He has been in Manhattan for, well I’d have to look it up so let’s just say “a long time.” Could it have been a decade now? Because our two sons and their wives (along with Patty’s brother and his family) live in New York City, we are fortunate to have an excellent excuse to visit the place at least once per year or so. While it is impossible for visitors like us to really know the place, we feel comfortable with great swaths of this city now, and it is among my favorite places to photograph.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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