Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

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

People on Walkway, MoMA

September 13, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People walking quickly along elevated walkway at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Shooting hand-held and at a very low shutter speed while visiting the museum, I made a series of exposures looking down into the space of the museum with the many criss-crossing walkways and other structural forms lit by a combination of light coming from nearby windows and artificial lighting, in which the people moving through the space are blurred by their rapid motion.

Although I suppose that a lot of my landscape/architecture photographs tend toward high resolution, detail, and sharpness I’m also fond of photographs that eschew that stuff! This image combines several things that interest me quite a bit. One, not surprisingly perhaps, is the view of the urban world as its own type of landscape – my interest in landscape is not limited to only those of the natural world. I’m also fascinated by forms and shapes, especially those formed in this kind of constructed environment. And, finally perhaps, I have this idea that I explore from time to time of contrasting the fixed and solid objects of the man-made world with the transient and dynamic motion of its inhabitants.

This photograph is 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

Detail, Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine

September 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Exterior detail of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

After traveling uptown to the general area of Columbia University for a breakfast visit to a bakery that had been recommended to us we wandered across the street to the grounds of this famous and imposing cathedral. We began in the sculpture building next to the church, and this photograph was made from that general area, taking advantage of the soft and diffused light of this overcast day.

This photograph is 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

Brooklyn Bridge Cables, Lower East Side Buildings

September 10, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Buildings of the lower east side of Manhattan, seen through the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge.

My son kept suggesting a walk across – or at least on to – the Brooklyn Bridge, so when the weather finally cleared up on our last full day in New York City and we found ourselves wandering around Lower Manhattan near the entrance to the pedestrian walkway across the bridge, we really had no choice.

It is hard – perhaps impossible? – to make a truly new photograph of the bridge, at least for this first time photographer of this New York icon. I do have a few frames of the masses of cables ascending to the tower closest to Manhattan, a scene we’ve all seen before, and I probably won’t be able to resist posting at least one of them eventually

I have no idea whether or not a shot like this one is familiar to those who have seen more photos of the bridge than I have, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is a typical view. In any case, I was fascinated by the dense web of cables, the fact that they are much thinner than bridge cables that I’m familiar with, and the appearance of the many buildings along the east short of Manhattan Island both north and south of the bridge.

This photograph is 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: New York City, Photographs: Night, Photographs: People, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ice Cream Man in His Truck, New York City

September 8, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A mobile ice-cream vendor parked in his truck at night near Madison Square Garden on 7th Avenue in New York City.

The street vendors are certainly a part of the glorious sensory assault that is Manhattan, at least for this California visitor. They are everywhere, and they range from the generic hotdog/pretzel vendors, through folks who look like they bought a few cases of water and decided to sell them, to some that seem almost gourmet. Two small stories… I didn’t make a photograph, but when we were in lower Manhattan in the financial district we saw a line-up of perhaps a dozen mobile food carts around one small square selling a wide range of foods. While the lines at most of them included a person or two… one stand had a line stretching all the way across the square. Second story – which I’ll tell on myself: One morning we wanted to grab a pretzel. In the process I quickly forgot one of the first rules of buying from these guys, namely settle the price before getting the food. A NYC pretzel ought to cost perhaps a couple bucks, but I managed to double the price by asking for the “goods” first, taking them from the vendor, and only then asking for the price. Let’s just say he gave me the “tourist special price,” and I didn’t feel like enough of a jerk to hand them back to him over the price. :-)

This truck was parked at a corner on 7th Avenue almost across the street from Madison Square Garden, and seemed to be doing a good business during the twilight hour on this evening.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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