Photographs: People, Photographs: United Kingdom, Photographs: Urban/Street

London Sidewalk

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London Sidewalk
People along an urban sidewalk, London

London Sidewalk. London, England. August 5, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People along an urban sidewalk, London

Sometimes with street photographs I do not quite know exactly what it is that appeals to me even though I know that the appeal is there. Perhaps part of the appeal of street photography, at least with some of the subjects, is that I have to response very quickly and almost entirely on the basis of intuition — often without even enough time to immediately consider the photograph I just made. It is look, photograph, move on, look some more. I may not “see” the photograph as an image again until much later… and even then it may be hard to identify the specific appeal in the image.

I barely recall making this photograph, in fact. I think I was crossing a street and about to come up on the sidewalk, and I’m willing to bet that the dark clad fellow with the headphones on was my primary point of interest. Judging from the low camera angle, I also suspect that I was photographing quickly from the waist, without even taking the time to raise the camera to my eye. (I kind of like this angle — it suggests photographs with classic twin lens reflex cameras.) There are other things about which I could speculate… but I think I’ll just leave it here as a photograph.

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: France, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Cafe, Montmartre

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Cafe, Montmartre
Evening scene at a cafe in Montmartre, Paris

Cafe, Montmartre. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening scene at a cafe in Montmartre, Paris

This photograph was made on a warm summer evening last summer in Paris, on the day that we arrived by train from London. I’m almost embarrassed to say that this was our first ever visit to Paris — it is a long story — but I’m also very happy that we did get there, spending a beautiful week in the city. As first-time Paris visitors, we had little idea what we were doing, an issue perhaps compounded by the fact that I generally don’t like to do too much research about a place before arriving. Oh, and we don’t speak French. All of that aside, we made it from the train station to our hotel, and set out on foot in the early evening to try to get our bearings.

We had virtually no idea where we were going. We understood that we were in Montmartre, which we had selected at least in part because our son and daughter-in-law had stayed in the area recently. I won’t recount the entire story of our random wanderings through areas that we began to understand a bit better by the end of our visit, though in another post I may share the tale of our “discovery” of a rather well-known place. In any case, we were hungry, and it didn’t take us too long — though longer that it took on the following evenings — to figure out that finding a place is not a problem in Paris. In fact, we ate at this place…

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: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

San Francisco Waterfront, Night

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San Francisco Waterfront, Night
Downtown San Francisco waterfront at dusk.

San Francisco Waterfront, Night. San Francisco, California. April 30, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Downtown San Francisco waterfront at dusk.

I made this photograph on a lovely, slow, spring evening in San Francisco, where I had gone to meet up with a small group of street photographers. First I joined them for dinner in Chinatown, and then we all headed out to do some photography. While I usually do street photography completely on my own, relishing the ability to move fast from place to place or stay put for long periods of time, it is enjoyable to work with others at times, too. Several folks in the group were interested in the waterfront where downtown San Francisco meets the bay, so we headed that way first, and eventually everyone ended up on a popular pedestrian pier with good views back towards the City.

A few years ago I realized that the image quality and high ISO capabilities of very small digital cameras was making it entirely possible to go out into the street and do handheld photography after dark. Before that time my night photography was almost invariably the long-exposure type, with the camera on a tripod and exposure times measured in minutes rather than fractions of seconds. Then, during a weeklong visit to New York, it hit me that I could push things enough to shoot night, and I was immediately hooked. So when I found myself in front of this subject, one that would typically be a tripod-only subject, I thought I’d give it a try even though I was traveling very light — one small camera, one prime lens, no tripod. And even in this late dusk light it turned out to be quite possible.

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

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pedestrians, Le Marais

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Pedestrians, Le Marais
People on the sidewalk in Le Marais, Paris

Pedestrians, Le Marais. Paris, France. August 10, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People on the sidewalk in Le Marais, Paris

Le Marais, where we ended up almost by accident as we searched for a photography museum in Paris, turned out to be a wonderful place to make photographs. The old streets are narrow, predating the more recent modernization of many parts of Paris, and the buildings are often old. Most people are on foot, and there are wonderful back drops for photographing them everywhere.

The person in the colorful clothing, paused against the textured and weathered wall for a cellphone check, first caught my attention. I did make another photograph in which this person is the only figure, set off against a very large expanse of wall. But when I have the chance I often like to try more than one interpretation of a subject, so I framed a vertical composition and waited for other passers-by to walk through the frame, trying to catch them in interesting juxtapositions and poses.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

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