Category Archives: Photographs: Travel

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze

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Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze
Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy

Street Vendors, Duomo de Firenze. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Street vendors and crowds of tourists at the Duomo, Florence, Italy.

One thing you can count on during tourist season in any popular city area like this one is that you’ll find lots of folks trying to sell you stuff, including street vendors of all sorts. The “art” objects for sale range from incredibly cheap trinkets (think of the tiny Eiffel Towers sold by the Paris entrepreneurs), though various kinds of post cards and similar, all the way to hand produced caricatures and others kinds of artistic efforts. (We’re not much for buying such stuff, preferring to make our own memories. Though we do give in on occasion.)

These two fellows were set up in a busy area in the shadow of the Duomo, the gigantic church in the center of the old part of Florence. If I recall, it was still morning, and the crowds were just starting to build, with lines growing at the entrances to this historical feature.

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: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Walking Man, Florence

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Walking Man, Florence
A man walks past businesses in Florence

Walking Man, Florence. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man walks past businesses in Florence.

Several years ago we concluded a long European trip by visiting Italy, where we spent a week in the hills of Tuscany with members of our extended family. The trip, in total, was about bit longer than a month, and we had about a week and a half in Italy.

Most of our time in Tuscany was in the rural area near where we stayed — that region of fields and vineyards and orchards and small towns and villages. However, at the end of that part of our visit we decided to spend a few days in Florence before flying home. It was our first visit there, and we loved the place. (Yes, it is busy and full of tourists, but if you go out at the right times… less so.) I made this photograph on one of our first walks as we headed toward the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

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: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wall, Rue de Braque

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Wall, Rue de Braque
Detail of a wall next to sidewalk on Rue de Braque, Le Marais, Paris

Wall, Rue de Braque. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a wall next to sidewalk on Rue de Braque, Le Marais, Paris.

I photographed this little vignette while walking around Le Marais in Paris during our visit last summer. We stayed on the edge of this historic district of old buildings and very narrow streets, and we had lots of opportunities to walk everywhere. I’m happy to simply wander here, looking and seeing what shows up.

The street name caught my attention, of course, and to my eye (which is not profoundly sophisticated when it comes to art history) the color palette and the shapes brought to mind the work of the artist himself. I would usually choose to photograph in earlier or later soft light, but I’ve learned to like the start summer light here, too.

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.

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street, Buildings, Shadows

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Street, Buildings, Shadows
Afternoon shadows fall across buildings and a narrow street in Tuscany

Street, Buildings, Shadows. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon shadows fall across buildings and a narrow street in Tuscany.

This photograph is the second half of a pair similar photographs I made during this visit to a vineyard in Tuscany a few years back. The location (Castello de Ama) features a small central area of stone buildings, amounting to a very small village, surrounded by vineyards. As you can guess, that it was pretty much “typical Tuscany,” which is a very good thing.

Arriving towards the middle of the day, the light was intense during our entire visit, aside from a very few passing clouds. To this Californian there is something both familiar and different about Tuscan light. The intensity is similar, especially at midday during the summer, and stark contrasts between light and shadow are common. But the Italian light seems to me to be softer, or perhaps more accurately the atmosphere seems softer, perhaps as a result of humidity. This photograph and the one I posted earlier both feature stone buildings, a bit of a narrow street, and dark midday shadows.

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.