Category Archives: Photographs: Urban/Street

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

Christmas Day, Central Park

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Christmas Day, Central Park
Visitors congregate in Manhattan’s Central Park on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day, Central Park. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Visitors congregate in Manhattan’s Central Park on Christmas Day.

As I have previously written, we spent a week in Manhattan right around Christmas and New Year’s Day, mainly with family visiting in mind but also, of course, to see Manhattan and other parts of New York City. We have visited during this season many times, and we’ve seen quite varied weather. The time before this we experienced recording-breaking cols, but this time the weather was hardly cold at all — the light and atmosphere looked winter-like, but temperatures were 20 or 30 degrees above what we experienced on that earlier visit.

On Christmas Day we took a long walk up the east side of Central Park, then crossed it before heading back down the west side. To no one’s surprise — this being Manhattan! — even on Christmas Day there were crowds everywhere. This large collection of people in Central Park may have been around a frozen pond, though the clear skies and sunlight took the edge off of the cold this time.

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

Meat Centre

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Meat Centre
Interior of the Meat Centre after closing time, Manhattan

Meat Centre. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Interior of the Meat Centre after closing time, Manhattan.

Businesses like this one, located along the edge (as I understand it) of Manhattan’s Chinatown district, fascinate me. There is often a sort of rough edge about them, but it implies that they are places where real work is done, and not that they are unkempt or that the owners and workers do not care. Quite to the contrary, as I look around this scene I see that essentially everything in it has a distinct place and a real-world purpose.

Technically this is a kind of “night photograph,” since I made the image while walking along a dark street and looking into this and similar businesses. Aside from restaurants and drinking establishments and the ubiquitous convenience stores, most of the businesses like this one were closed or closing. Here, the appearance suggests that the place has been cleaned up and organized at the end of the work day.

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

Pointing The Way

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Pointing The Way
A man in holiday attire gives directions to a pedestrian in Manhattan.

Pointing The Way. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man in holiday attire gives directions to a pedestrian in Manhattan.

This photograph was what I think of as a classic street photography “snap,” grabbed quickly while on the move past the subjects on a Manhattan sidewalk. Based on my recall of the moment and the low position of the camera, it is pretty likely that I make the exposure without even raising the camera to my eye, possibly not having time to do so and/or wanting to avoid creating my own intrusion on the scene.

If you like such subjects, there are a lot of different ways to “see” them as photographs. In this one there is the unusual attire of the fellow, who I suspect is a security guard working outside this building — during the holiday season such people must occasionally wear bright red shirts, Santa hats, and holiday light necklaces, which is not your typical security guard attire. He looms large in the frame — he is taller than the women, she stands further away and to the side, and his pointing motion gives him an active demeanor. I also like certain compositional aspects of the photograph, and I simply find the two people to be fascinating.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrians And Colorful Wall

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Pedestrians And Colorful Wall
Pedestrians walk past a colorfully-painted wall in Manhattan

Pedestrians And Colorful Wall. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pedestrians walk past a colorfully-painted wall in Manhattan.

Photographing street art, graffiti, and other things created by others on the walls of urban spaces, often poses an issue or two for me. In some cases I have to ask myself if photographing certain examples might have the potential to encourage what could be regarded by some as vandalism. In other cases where the work was placed by permission or in a location where the unspoken rules allow it I still have to ask myself whether I am creating something or just recording someone else’s creative work. So I rarely photograph such things “as is,” instead looking to use them as part of my own take on a scene, and often letting passers-by populate the composition.

Perhaps because its bold design and colors were so much in contrast to the somewhat drab and even dark Manhattan surroundings, this example caught my attention right away. But, as per the above, I wasn’t really interested in just photographing the wall. So I employed a strategy that I often use when photographing street — I find a “street landscape” and with for the urban wildlife (e.g. “people”) to populate it in ways I find interesting. I have to work quickly since these subjects don’t stand still, but I hope to find interesting characters, interesting placing of the figures, relationships to that background landscape, and more.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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