Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight

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Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight
“Rooftops Of Paris, Twilight” — Rooftops of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at Twilight, Montmartre

This photograph is partly a hotel story. There are all sorts of such stories, but this one began poorly and ended well. We took a cab from the train station to our hotel when we arrived in Paris, hopped out, ran inside, went to the desk to check in… and they had no idea who we were. Uh, we were in the wrong hotel. Ours was next-door and, if I recall, had a similar name. We sorted this out, went to the right hotel, checked in, and went up to our room. We opened the door to find… someone else’s luggage spread out in the room. Uh, no…

Back downstairs at the desk they apologized profusely and asked if we should mind an upgrade to a better room with a better view on a higher floor. Sounded good to us, and we ended up high enough to have a decent overview of the surroundings. We didn’t initially think of this in a photographic context, at least not until we found ourselves in the room at twilight one evening as lights began to come on in the city and soon the Eiffel Tower was illuminated.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Restaurant, Spring Evening

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Restaurant, Spring Evening
Restaurant with windows open on a spring evening, San Francisco

Restaurant, Spring Evening. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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

Photographs: England, Photographs: Urban/Street

Greenwich Street Scene

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Greenwich Street Scene
Pedestrians walking along a Greenwich street

Greenwich Street Scene. Greenwich, England. August 3, 2016. © Copyright 2016. G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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 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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Urban Fishermen, Dusk, San Francisco Bay

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Urban Fishermen, Dusk, San Francisco Bay
A group of urban fishermen working from a San Francisco Bay pier finishes up for the evening

Urban Fishermen, Dusk, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of urban fishermen working from a San Francisco Bay pier finishes up for the evening

During the last weekend of April I joined a group of fellow street photography and night photography enthusiasts in San Francisco. We met up for dinner in the Chinatown district, and afterwards we wandered down to the Embarcadero and the waterfront, busy with tourists at this time of year. Ultimately we ended up in a spot very popular with such folks, a pier the affords walking access to the waters of the bay. I spent perhaps a half hour out there photographing: people, the bay, passing ships and boats, the City skyline.

These urban fisherman are a regular part of the San Francisco urban scene and they represent a sort of intersection between the human and the natural worlds. They are everywhere along the City’s waterfront, and often are fishing within earshot and “eyeshot” of the busy urban scene. Stop and think about what this means and there is a lot to ponder. Even in a busy and fast-paced place like San Fransisco, it is possible to walk a few feet and find yourself standing quietly above the bay in dusk, perhaps with a few friends — one way to help maintain sanity in the urban world. These guys appeared to be finishing up for the evening and were simply standing around and talking as they packed up and as tourists stopped to watch.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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