Tag Archives: alley

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Alley, Approaching Car

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Alley, Approaching Car
A police car approaches in a narrow San Francisco alley

Alley, Approaching Car. San Francisco, California. July 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A police car approaches in a narrow San Francisco alley

This photograph is pretty much what it appears to be — a narrow San Francisco downtown alley between two major streets, a police car entering the alley (soon to followed by others), a stop sign painted on the ground, and an unusual combination of artificial light coloration and reflections.

This is one of the many street photographs that simply happens, and happens quickly. I was crossing the outlet of this alley, when I looked into it and saw the interesting lighting effects. At that moment the car turned into the alley, providing a focus of brightness at its far end. I raised the camera and photographed, barely having time to carefully compose, and a moment later a couple of police cars approached my end of the alley and i had to get out of the way.

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: Photographers, Photographs: Urban/Street

Photographer Doug Kaye

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Photographer Doug Kaye
Photographer Doug Kaye prowling a San Francisco alley in late afternoon light

Photographer Doug Kaye. San Francisco, California. September 5, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photographer Doug Kaye prowling a San Francisco alley in late afternoon light

Back in early September I joined up with a group of fellow photographers to explore areas of downtown San Francisco in late afternoon light, followed by dinner, and then a return to the streets to photograph at night. Among the group was photographer Doug Kaye, here seen walking into the light along a narrow San Francisco street, a street lined with a bit of Dr. Seuss architecture with wildly dissonant angles from shadows, fire escape leaders, perspective convergence, and a crazily tilting lamp-post.

Later on this evening we headed back out after dark to photograph areas between roughly upper Chinatown and the Union Square vicinity. Night street photography is rapidly becoming a bit of a passion. Last year on a trip to Manhattan I realized that my little mirrorless camera performs well enough at high ISOs that I can effectively do handheld photography in the urban night environment — and this was a revelation!

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

Asian Ambiance

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Asian Ambiance
A man works in the display window of the Asian Ambiance shop, next to the Francisco Aquino’s Ross Alley 1889 Mural

Asian Ambiance. San Francisco, California. July 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man works in the display window of the Asian Ambiance shop, next to the Francisco Aquino’s Ross Alley 1889 Mural

When shooting at night — and, frankly, often when shooting during the day — I may photograph a scene, feeling that something about it “works,” but not knowing quite why in then sense that I could explain why I’m making the photograph. I frequently work quite intuitively, even though I’m very aware of my surroundings and fully engaged with them. This is one of those photographs.

I think I first simply thought the light spilling out of the colorful windows of the shop was interesting. As I walked over for a closer look I saw the man working intently on something in the window — perhaps repairing some sort of security shutter. I think I may have been aware of the pool of light on the sidewalk, and I soon noticed the mural to the left. (I later looked it up and found out that it has been there for a while and is far more than random graffiti.) As I quickly framed up a photograph, hoping the man would not move, I thought about the edges of the frame and the position of the lamp at the right become an important consideration. The title, of course, is simply the name of the shop.

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

Blue Alley

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Blue Alley
A side alley in San Francisco, illuminated at night by blue lights

Blue Alley. San Francisco, California. July 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A side alley in San Francisco, illuminated at night by blue lights

Sometimes I think about why I am attracted to certain subjects, and I’ve thought a bit about what it is about night photography that draws me. It is actually a bit complicated, so I won’t try to explicate the whole thing here. I can, however, say something about two related issues. First, a lot of night photography is as much about what the camera sees as it is about what I see. Our human vision can work rather well in near darkness, especially once we adapt, but what we see is nothing much like what our cameras see. The camera can blur motion with long exposures, can record with relative accuracy colors that we either cannot really see in near darkness or which our minds tell us are not what they really are, and quite simply the camera can sometimes produce a photograph of things that are too dark to really see. Secondly, because of these things, the concept of objective accuracy in night photography pretty much goes right out the window. How in the world do you make an “accurate” photograph of something that you cannot actually see without the camera?

If you or I saw this scene with our eyes, we would likely be almost completely unaware of the wildly divergent colors of the light. Our vision system (eyes and, especially, brain) often tell us that we are seeing what we believe we should see. Sidewalks are grey, not blue, so even in blue light the mind registers the objectively blue sidewalk as gray. Yet the camera is more objective, and when we see photographs of these subjects we are often struck by the wild colors. I have heard people ask how to “correct” these colors. My answer? Don’t! I look for and use these intensely colored lighting sources – here a blue light, sometimes the red of automobile tail lights, the warm color of tungsten light, the daylight-like color of LED lighting, the strange spectrum of fluorescent — all of which can lend string color to scenes that are often drab and nondescript in daylight

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.