Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

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.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard

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Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard
A study in right angles, MOMA courtyard, Manhattan

Right Angles, MOMA Courtyard. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A study in right angles, MOMA courtyard, Manhattan.

This is a photograph from nearly a decade ago, made on one of our semi-regular visits to New York City. For some reason I ended up in the archive of raw files from that visit recently and I ended up working on this photograph. It turns out that it is quite similar to another I made at this same spot, but there are some subtle but important distinctions that convinced me to work on this version.

The camera position is a window facing this courtyard, a spot that most people probably walk right past on their way between floors at the Museum of Modern Art. I think I may first have been attracted by the elevated viewpoint, looking down into the courtyard where people may sit or walk. I also was fascinated by the dense cubic forms of the buildings and the strong perspective lines that they form.

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.

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

In Tatters

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In Tatters
Remnants of street posters, Paris

In Tatters. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Remnants of street posters, Paris.

One thing I look for when photographing in cities is examples of street art and posters and similar that have been up long enough to have been weathered and otherwise distressed. In some cases they reveal many layers of imagery and text — some painted, some in ink, and some pasted to walls and on top of previous materials.

Beyond being in Paris I no longer recall the specific location or larger context for this splash of color. I just recall that the bright colors, abstracted from their original context by being torn to pieces, caught my attention as we walked by, and that the background white field almost reminded me of paper product wrapping. There’s just enough form to the colors that I might imagine that I could figure out what was there originally…

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.