Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan

January 17, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Brooklyn Bridge and buildings of Lower Manhattan, New York

Like many of my stories, this one involves a very long hike, challenging weather, two river crossings, a landscape of beautiful light and evocative atmosphere… and New York City? Indeed. It did not quite register with me that on this day we walked from our Canal Street hotel, across the Brooklyn Bridge (in sub-freezing temperatures), around areas of Brooklyn, and then back across the Manhattan Bridge to Canal Street and back to our hotel. The whole thing evolved organically, and we did not originally intend to do so much walking. There are days when I walk less than that during back-country Sierra Nevada trips!

We were meeting people from Brooklyn, but we figured that after a morning walk in Lower Manhattan that we would likely either meet them on the Manhattan side or take the subway over to Brooklyn – but when we found ourselves near the bridge we decided to walk across, and we met them mid-span. The very cold air was also blue-gray with haze, so I think I was in black and white mode as we walked across, thinking about how to use the haze. We arrived in Brooklyn, and eventually ended up in roughly the DUMBO (look it up!) area, where we ate, shopped a bit, and wandered. From there we decided to walk back to Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge. If you have walked the Brooklyn Bridge – and who hasn’t? – I recommend this alternative for a more “real” and a bit earthier view of things. In contrast to the typical mob scene on the Brooklyn Bridge, there was almost no one else walking the Manhattan – perhaps because it also carries very loud subway trains, has a much narrower walkway, and starts and ends in somewhat less well-known areas. But the view of the Manhattan Bridge, East River, and Lower Manhattan from this bridge is, I think, better than that from the Brooklyn Bridge. In this photograph the afternoon light was essentially back-lighting the tall buildings and the Brooklyn Bridge, and clouds gave some texture to the sky.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Driveway, The Cloisters, Winter

January 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The curving driveway at the Cloisters Museum, New York City

We were in New York City during the final week of 2013, visiting family and doing the usual New York things – which, for me, always includes visiting museums and making photographs. We had visited The Cloisters, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art but far uptown, on a previous visit – but having not planned very well we arrived on a day when the place was closed! So we only were able to wander around the grounds outside and the surrounding park lands and then down into town below. This time we checked more carefully, and found that not only was it open but that we could use our Metropolitan of Art passes that we used the previous day.

It was a cold day, and when we got off of the long subway ride up from lower Manhattan we were a bit surprised by the wind blowing at Fort Tryon and we didn’t waste too much time in heading over to the museum. I recalled this curving, cobble stone driveway from our previous visit, when we walked up it to get to the front entrance. This time we came from the side and saw it from the top, curving away and toward the barren trees around the museum and cold scene of the city down below the hill in the distance.

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

PattyOboe in Heidelberg

January 11, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walking down a narrow street in Old Heidelberg, Germany

Patty, waiting for me – yet again! – as I make photographs on narrow back-streets in the area of the Heidelberg old town and the University. Yes, we did walk the busy and commercial Hauptstrasse, too, but more often I recall that we moved over a few blocks and walked up these very narrow and much less crowded streets.

Not only is Patty in this photograph – carrying her bag of camera gear and ready to shoot! – but a bunch of other members of her family comprise the group walking down the small street beyond. I think they eventually just gave up on waiting for us when we stopped to photograph!

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Austria, Photographs: Urban/Street

Street Lamp and Open Window

January 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A street lamp and two windows on a building wall along a narrow street in Salzburg, Austria

I saw these interesting lamps on my first day walking around in Salzburg but didn’t think much more about them until later. They were attached to walls by what look like curved rods of iron, and were not like anything that I’m familiar with. Later, when visiting a location near but not in Salzburg, I saw the same lamps on other buildings. Now, seeing a pattern, I started looking for them, and they popped up in lots of different places in and around Salzburg.

This wall belongs to what I presume is a home or apartment along a narrow street not far from central Salzburg. In the afternoon we walked away from the busy old central city and headed toward a nearby area where we had parked, and as we did we passed through a number of these old, narrow streets. In places, the afternoon light was almost parallel to the streets, and here it glances across the rough surface of the wall, hitting one window and casting a shadow on the open upper window.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan

Driveway, The Cloisters, Winter

PattyOboe in Heidelberg

Street Lamp and Open Window

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