Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Green Wall

January 15, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green wall with green door and window in an urban industrial area of San Jose, California.

This is another urban landscape from my New Years Day walk and shoot. This photograph and the one that follows (a yellow building with a “For Lease” sign) are almost directly across the street from one another – a colorful bit of industrial neighborhood for sure! Despite the weathered and repainted character of this detail, the overall building is actually in decent shape. There is something mysterious about it though with the green color(s) and the boarded up windows and the door with no handle.

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.

keywords: green, corrugated, metal, wall, building, door, window, cover, hinge, scuff, mark, bolt, weathered, repainted, paint, urban, industrial, city, street, structure, stock, dent, crease, patch, damage

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Front Porch with Flower Pots

January 14, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The front porch of an old suburban home with a row of flower pots and a garden hose.

Switching gears more than a bit from the recent Big Sur photographs, here comes a series of urban landscapes shot on a New Years Day walk not far from my home. I shot these in old-school style, wandering around carrying only a full-frame body with a 50mm prime. (OK, I don’t have a Leica, but this comes close enough for me.) I’m not really a big fan of the one-lens approach, but I do find it to be a fun diversion sometimes, partly because it makes me look at photographic subjects a bit differently and partly because it makes for a much smaller and lighter kit.

I’m not quite certain what caught my attention about this house, though several things might have contributed. You cannot see it from the photograph, but this one residence sits on a very busy four-lane thoroughfare among a bunch of businesses – that may have been one thing that drew me to it. The color caught my eye as well, as did the row of flower pots on the porch and the very bright green of the hose. I also like the overall geometry of the scene.

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.

keywords: front, porch, flower, pots, clay, green brown, red, pink, green, home, urban, house, door, screen, window, frame, pink, apricot, siding, gas, meter, hose, cement, concrete, sidewalk, worn, mailbox, street, downtown, san jose, california, usa, stucco, shade, blinds, curtain, reflection, stock/font>

Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden

January 8, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Visitors with umbrellas walk through the Getty Center garden beneath winter trees on a foggy and rainy day.

This is – obviously – a black and white landscape orientation take on the scene in the garden at the Getty museum in Los Angeles that I posted earlier in a portrait orientation color version. The conditions were rainy and foggy – unusual, I presume, for the Getty – as several small groups of visitors carrying umbrellas wandered along the twisting and sometimes angular path through the garden below the main buildings. The light colored umbrellas are an interesting visual feature that you’ll always see when it rains at the Getty, as they loan them to visitors by the hundreds. I’m sure it is no accident that the color of the umbrellas blends well with the color of the facility.

These photos were more or less very quick shots. As I noticed the misty view of the garden the umbrella-carrying people quickly showed up on the path – much to my surprise since I figured that few people would be out there in this murky weather. Fortunately I had a zoom lens on the camera and was able to quickly frame both vertical and horizontal compositions and then shoot fairly quickly as the people passed through the scene and assembled themselves in interesting arrangements.

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.

keywords: getty, center, art, museum, travel, scenic, los angeles, california, usa, fog, mist, rain, shower, visitor, people, man, woman, person, umbrella, tan, garden, tree, bare, grove, grass, lawn, shrub, plant, sidewalk, walk, trail, path, building, structure, reflection, silhouette, winter, branches, stock

Photographs: People, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Urban/Street, Southern California

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden

January 6, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Umbrellas, Getty Center Garden. Los Angeles, California. December 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors walk through the garden on a rainy and foggy afternoon day at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.

I’m probably just about the only person who goes to the Getty Center hoping for rain… and who is regards himself as lucky when he gets rain… and fog! :-)

We were in LA during the past week to visit my daughter and our son-in-law, and we decided to stop at the Getty on the start of our return drive to the SF Bay Area. I’m always fascinated by the grounds of the Getty and by the opportunities to photograph people on those grounds, and interesting weather makes this even more appealing. On top of that my daughter had told us about the wonderful Rembrandt exhibit and I was looking forward to the Irving Penn “Small Trades” photographs on display. (It is a great exhibit – see it if you are in the area.)

I often confess that as much as I enjoy the art at the Getty, I enjoy the Getty as architecture and urban landscape just as much. Although few of my Getty photographs appear here, I very much enjoy photographing the forms and lighting of the buildings and the gardens. It was raining lightly when we arrived, and by the time we made it up the hill fog had settled on the ridge. I actually made well over 100 exposures throughout the day. Many were shot quickly as momentary conjunctions of people and light and atmosphere appeared and just as quickly disappeared. I happened to find myself on a walkway overlooking the fogged-in garden just as a couple groups of umbrella-bearing visitors encountered one another near the sharp point of this path.

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.

keywords: getty, center, art, museum, los angeles, california, usa, path, walk, sidewalk, people, man, woman, umbrella, tan, red, white, trees, silhouette, plant, lawn, grove, step, reflection, fog, mist, cloud, rain, shower, stock

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