Category Archives: Photographs: England

Photographs: England, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Sidewalk

May 20, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People along an urban sidewalk, London

Sometimes with street photographs I do not quite know exactly what it is that appeals to me even though I know that the appeal is there. Perhaps part of the appeal of street photography, at least with some of the subjects, is that I have to response very quickly and almost entirely on the basis of intuition — often without even enough time to immediately consider the photograph I just made. It is look, photograph, move on, look some more. I may not “see” the photograph as an image again until much later… and even then it may be hard to identify the specific appeal in the image.

I barely recall making this photograph, in fact. I think I was crossing a street and about to come up on the sidewalk, and I’m willing to bet that the dark clad fellow with the headphones on was my primary point of interest. Judging from the low camera angle, I also suspect that I was photographing quickly from the waist, without even taking the time to raise the camera to my eye. (I kind of like this angle — it suggests photographs with classic twin lens reflex cameras.) There are other things about which I could speculate… but I think I’ll just leave it here as a photograph.

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sidewalk, Leaves, Rain, Reflections

May 15, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pedestrian walks across a reflecting, leaf-covered sidewalk in rain near the Tate Museum, London

I made this photograph close to the river side entrance to the Tate Modern in London. I like the museum itself, but I also like the surrounding area for photography of people and of “stuff.” Nearby the Millennium Bridge arrives on the shore of the River Thames and intersects with the popular walkway along the river, so there is no shortage of activity or of people, plus there is a variety of architectural and other subjects, ranging from the river and the bridge to downtown London across the water.

This section of sidewalk in front of the museum was wet from the drizzle, and tiny fallen leaves littered its surface. Seen from my elevated position there were reflections from the buildings. I began by photographing a small group of nearby trees, but soon this solitary figure crossed the open area headed toward the building.

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bubble Man

May 14, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A man making soap bubbles for the crowd in London

We were out on foot on the first day of this trip to London and, if I recall correctly, we must have traveled across the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to the Tate Modern in the gray drizzle. We had no specific plans on this day, and I think we were just sort of getting our “London legs” by getting out and about, no matter where our whims took us. (That said, one place that the walk took us was a pub, for breakfast!)

Coming back across the bridge the view points straight toward the St. Paul’s Cathedral, and once over the bridge the walkway travels between some modern buildings as it approaches. This is, obviously, prime tourist territory, so it is a likely place for street vendors and performers. (It is also a fine place for street photographers.) The black-dressed fellow was spreading a mess of soapy water on the sidewalk tiles and lots of big bubbles into the air.

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Greenwich Street Scene

May 8, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pedestrians walking along a Greenwich street

Our original plans had us in London for a shorter period of time. But plans change, and since it turned out that we were going to make a trip to New York before our UK/Europe trip began, and it didn’t make sense to fly back to California for two days in between, we moved the start of our London visit up by a few days. We found accommodations in central London for the added days, but we had already found less expensive lodging in Greenwich for the original dates — so part way through our visit we moved out to the “suburbs.” (The Greenwich place wasn’t a bad one at all. It was just a bit further away from the action, which is why it was less expensive.)

In any case, we found ourselves commuting in to London by rail quite a bit, often passing right by the central portion of Greenwich. But eventually it turned out to be convenient to stop there, grab a bite, and check things out. This area is clearly geared to visitors — lots of restaurants, for example. But it has, at least to this American, a rather different feeling from downtown London, so we enjoyed wandering around a bit and we found a pub with a nice outdoor garden for lunch. The light was quite beautiful on this day. There were clouds around, but the atmosphere was bright and the light was intense, so much that this photograph somehow reminds me a bit of winter light in Southern California.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: England

London Sidewalk

Sidewalk, Leaves, Rain, Reflections

Bubble Man

Greenwich Street Scene

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