Tag Archives: architecture

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

Extension, Contemporary Jewish Museum

July 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The blue cube-like metal-clad “extension” section of San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, with downtown buildings in the background.

This metal structure is the so-called “extension” section of the Jewish Contemporary Museum in downtown San Francisco, located not far from Yerba Buena Center and the Metreon. On my frequent “walking photography” trips to San Francisco I often end up wandering through this area, and this building always intrigues me. The museum is build largely around an old (over 100 years) power plant building, but this metal-clad structure “extends” the underlying building.

The structure itself seems somewhat cube-like when viewed from close by, but is actually part of a larger structure that travels across the room of the power plant building. From up close it towers and leans back over the viewer. The surrounding area is also interesting with a large open space, and old Catholic church, and very tall downtown buildings nearby.

I’ve been working on figuring out how to photograph this building for a while now. The angles are tricky, the working space is limited, the light is complicated. I’m still not convinced that I have it, so this is one of my “thinking out loud” photographs which may turn out to be practice for other photographs that I eventually make here.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Painted Brick Walls

March 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green and pink painted brick walls in San Francisco, California.

Several things catch my eye about this little scene: the contrast between the sharply defined monochromatic green bricks on the left and the wildly pink and badly painted bricks on the right, the old light fixture with its small shadow, the almost completely black line in the middle of the image where the two buildings don’t quite meet, the sliver of blue sky near the top of this shadowed area, and the very stark and harsh light.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/400 second

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, north america, travel, urban, downtown, city, street, brick, wall, pattern, structure, architecture, light, lamp, pink, green paint, geometric, shadow, tenderloin, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sunlit Wall with Textured Glass

March 22, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of a sunlit wall with textured glass windows along a street in San Francisco, California.

Yet another of the “it is sort of street photography and sort of urban landscape” photographs, this one made on a walking loop that took me through a good part of downtown San Francisco, and finally through the Tenderloin to the Civic Center. I made several photographs of the obscure glass windows of this street-level window along the sidewalk. In this one I wanted to work with the converging lines of the window frame and the vertical lines of the bits of wall between the windows.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/200 second

(Note: This was accidentally posted a day earlier along with another photograph. Reposting it today puts the block back on schedule.)

keywords: black and white, monochrome, perspective, converge, lines, frame, window, pane, textured, obscured, sticker, worn, distressed, bright, sunlit, sunlight, light, shadow, shape, structure, architecture, concrete, wall, ground, sidewalk, street, urban, city, downtown, san francisco, california, usa, north america, abstract, form, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Concrete Building and Reflective Windows

March 21, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tall concrete building covered with reflective windows, San Francisco, California.

This photograph is an urban landscape made in the darkened canyons of streets not far from Union Square in downtown San Francisco, California. The crazy perspective angles and lines caught my attention as I walked along this street, as did the contrasting blue of reflected sky and other strange colors, shapes, and textures reflected in the many windows in this scene.

There is a bit of an optical illusion effect in this image. I don’t know if others see it the same way, but to me the lower left section of the photograph almost seems to drop down as if the margin is narrower on that side. But it isn’t, and I think the effect is produced by the crazy angles confusing my sense of perspective.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/60 second

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, north america, downtown, union square, street, urban, city, architecture, structure, window, reflection, glass, light, concrete, cement, building, columns, perspective, lines, converge, stock

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