Category Archives: Photographs: San Francisco

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

Doorway, Windows, Stairs

June 6, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A San Francisco doorway with an interior stairway, night

For me street photography is not just about people — though I photograph that subject, too. It is also about what I might call “street landscape,” and I’m as intrigued by this landscape as I am by any other. Even when my subjects are the people in the urban world, I’m virtually always considering them at least partly in the context of where they are. I’m no less away of this landscape background in the urban world than I am when photographing birds in flight against the background of their landscape. And sometimes here, as in the natural world, I like to photograph that landscape without its “wildlife.”

The urban world especially fascinates me at night, and simple things can take on a new appearance. This was almost a “grab shot” as I walked back toward my car from where I had spent an hour photographing with friends along the San Francisco waterfront. If such things appeal to you, there might be a lot to find and consider in this image. Or not. You decide.

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

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

Tourists, Evening, San Francisco Bay

May 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tourists pause in the evening at the end of a pier on San Francisco Bay

I was in San Francisco to meet up with a group of fellow (mostly) street photographers, first for dinner along the fringe of Chinatown and then out to make photographs afterwards. We finished dinner and headed out before sunset, beginning by photographing in the long shadows cast by early evening light in the downtown canyons. Since many in the group wanted to photograph the waterfront we headed that direction. I was geared up more for night street photography — typically done handheld rather than with the tripod I might choose to use for architectural or urban landscape photography — but I hung in with the group anyway.

At the waterfront, after wandering in and around some buildings, the group was of a collective mind to head out on one of the pedestrian piers that juts out into the Bay. Again, this was a bit different from what I had in mind, but there is no denying the attractions of being out over the surface of the Bay as the evening comes on and things quiet down. I photographed some fishermen, a few passing boats, bridges, and back towards the urban waterfront buildings.Eventually, as it became quite a bit darker, I took a moment to photograph a small group of what I assume must have been friends, sitting out near the end of the pier and conversing in the fading light.

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

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

San Francisco Waterfront, Night

May 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Downtown San Francisco waterfront at dusk.

I made this photograph on a lovely, slow, spring evening in San Francisco, where I had gone to meet up with a small group of street photographers. First I joined them for dinner in Chinatown, and then we all headed out to do some photography. While I usually do street photography completely on my own, relishing the ability to move fast from place to place or stay put for long periods of time, it is enjoyable to work with others at times, too. Several folks in the group were interested in the waterfront where downtown San Francisco meets the bay, so we headed that way first, and eventually everyone ended up on a popular pedestrian pier with good views back towards the City.

A few years ago I realized that the image quality and high ISO capabilities of very small digital cameras was making it entirely possible to go out into the street and do handheld photography after dark. Before that time my night photography was almost invariably the long-exposure type, with the camera on a tripod and exposure times measured in minutes rather than fractions of seconds. Then, during a weeklong visit to New York, it hit me that I could push things enough to shoot night, and I was immediately hooked. So when I found myself in front of this subject, one that would typically be a tripod-only subject, I thought I’d give it a try even though I was traveling very light — one small camera, one prime lens, no tripod. And even in this late dusk light it turned out to be quite possible.

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

Restaurant, Spring Evening

May 9, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Restaurant with windows open on a spring evening, San Francisco

On foot in the twilight, I’m always intrigued by the worlds inside restaurants and bars, separated from the outside world on the street but visible through windows. I suppose there is a bit of a voyeuristic appeal in this, but I’m also fascinated by the light and by the little vignettes, sometimes almost like separate photographs, that are framed by the windows.

This time I was out with a small group of night and street photographers, and we had just wrapped up some photography of a somewhat iconic view of the San Francisco waterfront. I decided to wander back into areas more conducive to my kind of street photography, so I walked past and briefly photographed a number of places like this one, a small bar (I think) in an old (or at least old-looking) wooden structure attached to the side of a much larger building, and with its windows open to the pleasant air of a spring evening.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: San Francisco

Doorway, Windows, Stairs

San Francisco Waterfront, Night

Restaurant, Spring Evening

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.