Tag Archives: architecture

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Urban/Street

Window and Wall in Summer Light

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Window and Wall in Summer Light
High summer light falls across the walls of a building with white window frames.

Window and Wall in Summer Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High summer light falls across the walls of a building with white window frames.

There are still more of the pandemic photographs — the “postcards from pandemia” — that I have made from time to time since our world changed back in March of 2020. During that time I did a lot of urban walking in a several mile radius of my home, and I always carry a camera when I walk. On many walks the camera remained in my bag, but every so often some element of this area would catch my attention and the camera would come out, I’d make a few exposures, and then I’d continue walking.

I’m now not quite certain where this subject is, exactly. The style of construction is common in older neighborhoods around here. One thing that appeals to me about a photograph like this one is that it can be about many different things. On one hand it is a visual record of the urban architecture of a certain time and place. But it also, to me at least, also a little study in composition and forms, mainly rectangles. It also is a kind of minimalism, consisting of really only three colors — the dark windows, the blue wall, and the white window frame. There are two slightly mysterious elements that create visual dissonance for me. One is the diagonal shadow — really the only line in the scene that isn’t a perfect vertical or horizontal — that comes from some unknown and unseen source outside the frame. Another is that slightly dark and mysterious shaded area near the upper 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: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

960 Loading Dock

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960 Loading Dock
Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

960 Loading Dock. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Loading dock area of a San Francisco building.

As life trends slowly back towards a more normal world, I was recently able to join my Studio Nocturne friends (a group of San Francisco Bay Area night photographers) for the resumption of our annual fall “open studio” events in conjunction with the ArtSpan San Francisco Open Studios. The group and its ancestor, The Nocturnes, has shown night photography during this event for a couple of decades. Things were more or less suspended last year, for reasons I hardly need to explain, but this year we were able to offer a very successful open studio event in North Beach, followed by a “pop-up” event in Dogpatch.

So, for the first time in a couple of years, I spent the better part of several full days in San Francisco, showing art, working with my colleagues, talking to visitors about our work. This return to something feeling a bit like the old normal was wonderful. It was also great to once again feel like the life of this city was returning — masked and socially-distanced, yes, but still. The photograph includes the “view” from my location at the pop-up event. As an aside, its composition reminds me of the ubiquitous “chyron” displays on television…

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

People Standing By Window

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People Standing By Window
Two people stand against a dark wall next to a window, Museum of Modern Art.

People Standing By Window. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two people stand against a dark wall next to a window, Museum of Modern Art.

This photograph comes from a Manhattan visit a few years back. We usually are there for at least a week each year — though we have not been back since before the start of the pandemic. We miss the place! We have some traditions when it comes to these visits. One is to indulge me in a lot of “museum time.” (The amount of time I’m willing to spend in such places occasionally makes me the butt of family jokes.) We visited the Museum of Modern Art on this visit, and the photograph comes from there.

I’m often a bit surprised — though by how you’d think I would not be — by how interesting I find museums as photographic spaces. They are full of interesting and sometimes unusual architecture, and they are often designed to incorporate a lot of investing lighting, especially natural lighting. In many cases there is some sort of central atrium or similar that creates a tall, vertical open area… and that provides some wild and off-kilter angles of subjects that would look quite different if photographed on their own level. Here a pair of people stands at the base of a stairway, positioned in the angle between a nearly-black wall and a window.

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

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

RK AVENUE BALLRO

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RK AVENUE BALLRO
The front entrance to an urban dance studio, San Jose.

RK AVENUE BALLRO. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The front entrance to an urban dance studio, San Jose.

If you have been following along here you probably can guess that this is another photograph from my (almost) daily long walks in the greater neighborhood, an activity that has become a ritual during the time since March 2020… for reasons that you can also probably guess. These walks range from the short (“Gotta at least put in a half hour!”) to nearly ten miles, virtually always through the urban wilderness of neighborhoods, industrial areas, shopping centers, and similar.

I always carry a camera, though on most walks it stays in the bag. But every so often something catches my attention and out comes the camera. Quite often the subject is something that I’ve passed by many times but only really notice for the first time on one of the walks — a common experience, by the way. The elements that make this building what it is comprise quite a collection — the heavy framing of the entry way, the rather striking and perhaps unusual color choices, and more… some of which lies outside the frame in this 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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.