Tag Archives: america

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

Colorful Buildings

Image August 14, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The boundary between two colorfully painted San Francisco buildings.

These two buildings appeared in another recent photograph, also shot straight on and focusing on the fascinating geometry and color scheme of the structure. The location is, broadly speaking, near North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf, on a less-travelled side street. The architecture is within the typical San Francisco model — multi-story residences packed wall-to-wall, right up against the sidewalks.

The colors, of course, caught my attention. But there are a few other things going on that also fascinate me. For one, there’s a sort of dissonance between the extremely regular and geometric features of the two residences… and the odd lack of alignment between things like the two windows, the lower edge of the windows in the doors, and the garage door on the left.

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

Stairway, San Francisco

Image August 13, 2022 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A steep stairway ascends through a residential area of San Francisco.

The terrain underlying the city of San Francisco is in many places quite complex. Before settlement it was a place of hills cut by streams, flatlands, and shallows that were later filled in to expand the available land area. I made this photograph in an area along a ridge where the “sidewalks” are sometimes more vertical than horizontal and mostly consist of stairways.

There’s something a bit mysterious about this bending stairway as it winds upwards and twists out of sight. The mixture of angles and textures here is also fascinating — wood and concrete, horizontal and vertical, rigidly aligned to the horizon and angled in odd directions.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Elephants Head Flower

Image August 10, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Elephants head flower against the backdrop of a flower-filled Sierra meadow.

I’ve always had a somewhat challenged relationship with the identification of flowers (and trees and a few other things) in the natural world. While certain facts stick in my mind (locations, elevations, etc.), it has always been hard for me to hold onto accurate information about plant identification. I usually do recognize the plant, tree, or wildflower… down to the level of knowing exactly where it grows, when it flowers, even what it looks like in its dormant seasons… but when it comes to recalling the plant’s name I’m often at a loss. But this one was new to me on all counts.

I’m told by a usually-reliable source (thanks, Patty… via Keith Walklet) that this is an elephants head flower. I did not know that when I photographed it. I was just attracted by its complex shape, its subtle colors, and its vertical extent against the background of a meadow full of other kinds of wildflowers in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel

Two Windows

Image August 9, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two windows and metallic walls at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco.

On my photographic walks in San Francisco — part of a familiar routine that begins with a train ride to The City — it isn’t unusual to pass through the area around Moscone Center and SFMOMA. Just a bit north of here I often follow a route that takes me on sidewalks that don’t border the streets, and I end up passing the fascinating architecture of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, with its angled, metal exterior walls.

As appealing as this structure is, I’ve often found it difficult to photograph. The area around it is somewhat constrained by the proximity of other buildings, and those buildings are visually quite dissonant with the design of this one. So, at least for me, photographs of the larger scale of the building are difficult, and I still don’t have one that I really like. However, moving in closer and working the textures, reflected colors, and the angles and surfaces close up is more promising.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: america

Colorful Buildings

Stairway, San Francisco

Elephants Head Flower

Two Windows

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