Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Up The Stairs

Image July 15, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This was one of those unexpected opportunities that make me operate on pure instinct, with almost no time to carefully think about what I’m doing. I saw the staircase in this fascinating light because we were at this concert hall in the daytime instead of at nighttime. I quickly whipped out the iPhone and framed a shot of the stairs. The masked woman — whose presence makes this a very different photograph than it might have been — was completely serendipitous.

We sometimes dismiss iPhone photography as not being serious. Well, some people do — but more and more folks recognize that it has its place. I wouldn’t normally carry a “real camera” to a symphony concert, but I do almost always have the phone. In this situation I was able to deploy it quickly, make a few adjustments, and capture a raw image that otherwise would have escaped.

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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

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

Spring Trees, Central Park

Image June 6, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Walkers pass through an area of lawns and large spring trees in Central Park, Manhattan.

This photograph — almost certainly the last from my end-of-March visit to Manhattan — has been sitting in the queue for weeks as I’ve shared others. I made it during a brief bit of lovely spring sun at the end of a long weekend of nearly constant rain. In part, I scheduled this New York visit when I did because I had been told that “New York is beautiful in spring.” (We almost always visit in December or August, arguably among the worst months!) Until this final morning, when the sun came out for a few hours, I wasn’t so sure about that “beautiful spring” claim.

I stayed a few blocks from the lower end of Central Park, so even on the rainy days I joined the throngs of New Yorkers and fellow visitors for walks in the park. I’ll admit that it was a beautiful and moody place in the rainy weather — but not very comfortable! After three days of rain, this morning was extra beautiful.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Dogwood Blossoms, Central Park

Image June 4, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yosemite Valley and other Sierra places would be my usual targets for photographing spring dogwood blossoms. But this spring I ended up in Manhattan near Central Park on a wet morning, and there I found scattered dogwood trees in full bloom. Their white flowers stood out against the surrounding trees on this dark and rainy day.

That makes this a “spring photograph” of nature — though it sure did not feel like spring on this morning! It was the third straight day of rain in Manhattan — mostly light, but occasionally strong enough to make outdoor activities unpleasant and to cause a bit of flooding here and there.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tree and Lake, Central Park

Image June 2, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A goose swims past a solitary tree in a Central Park lake on a rainy day in Manhattan.

What you cannot “see” in this photograph is the sound of 58th Street traffic, along with all of the other nearby big city stimuli of Manhattan. This is a “landscape” photograph, of course, but the landscape is different than those I typically photograph in the American West. But on this rainy morning, when I escaped my hotel to walk and photograph for an hour or two, it presented a welcome slice of the natural world.

Those who know this park may wonder how I photographed it without any people, and even why I photographed it that way. As I walked along the near edge of this path, my view of this lake was unobstructed by anyone or anything besides a few branches. In a way, these little moments of silence and what passes here for solitude seem more precious given where they are found.