Tag Archives: 7th

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Bleecker Street Pizza

Leave a comment
Bleecker Street Pizza
“Famous” Bleecker Street Pizza restaurant and bar, Manhattan

Bleecker Street Pizza. New York City. December 27, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

“Famous” Bleecker Street Pizza restaurant and bar, Manhattan

I always enjoy restaurants and similar attractions that declare themselves to be “famous” or even “world-famous.” (Many years ago a place opened up in the Eastern Sierra Nevada along a main travel route and immediately declared itself to be “world-famous,” as near as I could tell on the day they opened. They must have been able to see the future, since eventually they arguably became so.) A very quick check suggests that this place might be good but might also not be exactly the most famous attraction in Manhattan…

That aside, I love the storefront. The shouting signs are classic, but the subtler elements are also interesting, from the hand-lettered “GLUTEN FREE” sign to the “as featured on WB11” testimonial and the barely visible “Purple Haze” neon sign in the window, not to mention the inevitable Manhattan plastic garbage sacks. It was a cold winter day, and no one was sitting outside at the tables, but I’ll bet things are different on a warm summer evening.

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+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Leave a comment
Ice Cream Man in His Truck, New York City
Ice Cream Man in His Truck, New York City

Ice Cream Man in His Truck, New York City. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

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

People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening

2 Comments
People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening
People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening

People Along Manhattan Sidewalk on a Summer Evening. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People along the sidewalk along 7th Avenue near Penn Station on a summer evening in New York City.

This is another night photograph made while walking along 7th Avenue around twilight, the time when there is a mixture of dim light still coming from the sky and the garish artificial lights of this urban area. The blue light in this image comes from a nearby blue “marquee” sign that runs along the side of a nearby building and right onto the sidewalk. I was attracted not only by the figures in the scene, but also by the combination of this intense blue light and the “pool” of warmer light that lit the two people.

This and the other photographs made this evening were shot “on the fly” as we walked. In some cases I took the time to raise the camera, compose and shoot – but in others I shot quickly without raising the camera to my eye. This photo is, I believe, in the latter category.

These photographs would have been more difficult to make in the era of film SLRs – not impossible, but certainly challenging. Here I was able to shoot at ISO values between 800 and as high as 3200 and still get decent image quality.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

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

Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue

Leave a comment
Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue
Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue

Person Sitting Behind Blue Sign, 7th Avenue. New York, New York. August 19, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of a person sitting behind a blue sign along 7th Avenue near Madison Square Garden on a summer evening in downtown New York.

On our last night in Manhattan we needed pizza – we bracketed our visit with New York pizza on the first and last night. (We had lots of great food in between, but that is perhaps a story for another post.) So we headed out of our hotel and up 7th Avenue near twilight. My son – who shoots old film cameras these days – and I grabbed our cameras to see what we could shoot. Keeping things simple, I just stuck a 50mm lens on my camera, cranked the ISO, and shot quickly as we moved through the crowds. Nearby there was a building with a “sign” that moved blue text up and down the front of a building and across part of the sidewalk. Sitting behind a section of the garish sign I saw this man sitting quietly.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email