Category Archives: Photographs: San Francisco

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Crouching Man in Orange

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Crouching Man in Orange
A street scene in San Francisco with a crouching man wearing orange

Crouching Man in Orange. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A street scene in San Francisco with a crouching man wearing orange

Today we take a little break from nature photography and head to San Francisco, one of my favorite places to do street photography. I suppose one reason it is a favorite is that it is so close — typically I hop on a train very early in the morning to arrive there around dawn (or a bit later this time of year) and then set out on foot to explore. It is also a favorite because, well, it is San Francisco. What a place — even with recent changes and overcrowding. The City borders to San Francisco Bay, it is full of diverse and interesting neighborhoods, and the people range from locals to out-of-town visitors.

This photograph is bound to seem a bit strange to those of you have stuck with me through a few weeks of redwood forest photography — what happened and what’s going on here?! I don’t want to explain too much — partly because a photograph can often reveal whatever it has to say on its own, partly because I don’t want to clutter it up with too many words, and partly because you can discover some stuff about it on your own if you choose to. Color is one clue…

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

City Super

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City Super
Busy morning at “City Super” in San Francisco, with produce boxes lined up along the curb

City Super. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Busy morning at “City Super” in San Francisco, with produce boxes lined up along the curb

I’ll take a street photography break today, and step away from the Yosemite landscape photography that I’ve been posting almost non-stop. This is a photograph from what I think of as the real Chinatown in San Francisco — a few blocks over from tourist Chinatown, and an area filled with people and markets like this one.

I almost always arrive here on foot, most often after taking the train up the peninsula to the City and then striking out in whatever direction seems interesting, depending on the light and my mood. On this morning I wandered all the way into North Beach before looping back through the area in the photograph.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Psychic Welcomes You

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Psychic Welcomes You
A business doorway with many locks and a surprising message.

Psychic Welcomes You. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A business doorway with many locks and a surprising message.

Another photograph from the San Francisco streets today… Because I live only a one-hour train ride away from San Francisco, it is pretty easy for me to head up there, traveling light with a rangefinder-style camera and a lens or two, and head out on foot to photograph in the City. I did just that near the start of the month, perhaps partly to focus on a subject other than the natural world of Yosemite for a bit!

A little scene like this one can be a simple photograph of a door with an interesting sign, or it could lead you to other observations and questions if you let it. It is, obviously, another example of something I described in another recent street photography post, namely the interesting hand-made business sign that is the opposite of the mass-produced “perfect” signage that we often see. There’s something that is both a bit comic and a bit bizarre about the appearance of the sign and its “Psychic Welcomes You” message. Also, “Psychic” must be having a premonition about a robbery, given the number and variety of locks along the left side of the door! Or perhaps a premonition isn’t necessary — note the previously broken door frame. That, of course, produces another question: What would be so attractive about a psychic that he/she would be the repeated target of burglaries?

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Formerly Bob’s Auto Service

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Formerly Bob's Auto Service
A downtown garage in San Francisco

Formerly Bob’s Auto Service. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A downtown garage in San Francisco

I often walk past this business when I take the train to San Francisco to do street photography. My typical circuit has me doing some sort of walking loop to the north from the train station and then back by a different route. This shop is on a very busy intersection, squeezed into a small space. It looks like it has been there forever, and there is empirical evidence of this if you look closely.

These places fascinate me for a whole bunch or reasons which range from purely visual to questions about the story that might lie behind them. Visually, I’m challenged by trying to see some kind of shape and order in urban chaos, but I also like the sometimes wild layers of color on business that use it to gain visibility. In addition, especially on individual businesses that have been in a location for a while, elements appear that reflect ownership and/or management by individuals — as differentiated from the slick and ultimately uniform appearance of chains and be businesses. Here I love the hand-painted blue letters across the top of the building — they are not up to the “standards” of contemporary design, but they reflect someone’s great care in producing them. Below that, on the yellow panel above the garage, you can look closely and see the painted-out words that I used for the title of this photograph.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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