Category Archives: Photographs: Travel

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

Chinatown Store At Night

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Chinatown Store At Night
A woman walks past a San Francisco Chinatown District store at night

Chinatown Store At Night. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past a San Francisco Chinatown District store at night.

My original idea was to render this as a color photograph, largely because the wild and bright colors in these stores attract me to the subject. But as I worked with the image in post it kept whispering, “I want to be monochrome…” In the end I decided to agree with that little voice. I like the noire quality of black and white in this case, and it also takes me back to my roots, when my early photography was all black and white… and done with film.

A photograph like this one poses several challenges, ranging from aesthetic to technical. The fill list of them is too long to treat fully in this post, but I’ll share a few. An aesthetic challenge comes from trying to include moving figures in such night photographs — both due to the difficulty in stopping their motion in low light, and because such figures don’t always appear in the. scene. My approach is often to find the “landscape” first and then wait for the “wildlife” (people) to arrive and populate the scene. It often requires both patience and multiple photographs to get it to work, and it doesn’t always succeed. The technical challenges are mostly about light. There are quite a few, but I’ll just mention some related to dynamic range and the locations of light sources. The brightest light in this scene is obviously coming from the bright interior of the store. But much of the scene is actually in near darkness, and the human subjects are mostly backlit. There is just a bit of ambient light coming from the lights on nearby businesses, but it isn’t nearly as strong as that coming from the shop. So I expose for that brightest source, with the intention of restoring shadow details in post. That isn’t always easy, but today’s cameras give us a ton of latitude for removing shadow detail.

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

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Souvenir Shop, Night
People in front of a colorful Chinatown souvenir shop at night, San Francisco

Souvenir Shop, Night. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

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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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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Parking Lot, Bay Fog

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Parking Lot, Bay Fog
A parking lot along the edge of San Francisco Bay on a foggy morning

Parking Lot, Bay Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A parking lot along the edge of San Francisco Bay on a foggy morning.

As the end of August approached I realized that I wanted to get up to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco to see the extensive Andy Warhol exhibit. (While I’m not the world’s biggest Warhol fan, I find his work interesting and thought-provoking and seeing this collection was a rare opportunity.) I often combine visits to this museum with photography, and that was the plan this time, too.

As I often do for such visits, I took the train up from my home, arriving fairly early in the morning. It was a somewhat unusual San Francisco morning along the waterfront of the Bay. It was already warm when I arrived, and it was also humid — unusual for California. Despite the warmth, fog was drifting across the inner San Francisco Bay, backlit by the early morning sun. I’ve walked along this section of the bay between the train station and the Ferry Building many times, so at this point I’m often looking for things aren’t your typical San Francisco photographs, and as I walked past this familiar parking lot, standing on old piers right along the water, I was attracted by the lines and curves and the backlit structures.

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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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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Travel

Bay Bridge, Morning Fog

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Bay Bridge, Morning Fog
The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, with morning fog bank above Treasure Island

Bay Bridge, Morning Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge, with morning fog bank above Treasure Island.

On the day I made this photograph I headed up to San Francisco to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where a special Andy Warhol exhibit is soon coming to a close. I’m close enough to San Francisco that I can take the train up for these visits, and that also affords me the time to do some walking around in this city, which of course involves photography. Because I had a specific schedule for the MOMA exhibit, I took a familiar walking path along the Bay waterfront to the Ferry Building before turning inland to get to the Museum.

The early morning light along the bay is often special — the atmosphere often glows in the backlight. Somewhat to my surprise, given the recent warm temperatures, there was a fog bank out in the bay, laying across Treasure Island. I paused at this familiar spot to photograph the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge near where it comes ashore, and the very bright sky and fog created a dramatic silhouette.

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.

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