Tag Archives: art

Photographs: France, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Paris Corner

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A Paris Corner
A scene in a corner where two buildings meet along a Paris sidewalk

A Paris Corner. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A scene in a corner where two buildings meet along a Paris sidewalk.

No big Europe trip for us this summer — we’re staying much closer to home this time around. But last summer we spent close to seven weeks traveling, almost all of it in the UK and Europe. We spent the largest portion of the time in France, between a return to Paris, a week with family at a more rural location, and a final extremely brief pass through Paris on our way to flying back home.

During our Paris visit we stayed right on the edge of Le Marais this time. The hotel wasn’t anything special — a tiny place crammed between other buildings — but the location was excellent for us. As some of you may guess, we were within easy walking distance of pre-fire Notre Dame, the Left Bank, the Siene (obviously), museums, lots of places to eat (but of course, it is Paris!) and Le Marais itself. The latter is a wonderful area that was not rebuilt as part of the Parisian efforts to modernize the city, so there are many very narrow streets and lots of old buildings, especially once you get away from the most popular areas. There are little gems to be found almost everywhere, including the fun street art that is found all over the place.

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: Germany, Photographs: Urban/Street

A Dog’s Life

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A Dog's Life
A dog naps beneath the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery

A Dog’s Life. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dog naps beneath the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery.

There is a very good chance that this is the first photograph of a dog that I have shared. I’m positive that it is the first sleeping dog photo. Who knows? Maybe it will become a thing. Or not. As always, I’m impressed by the extent to which dogs can simply ignore the tumult going on around them. There was a constant stream of people walking past and the sidewalk fronts a busy street.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about this. I photographed the critter at the base of the Berlin wall, at the section called the East Side Gallery where the remnants have been painted. (Perhaps “Dogs Sleeping At The Berlin Wall” will be a genre?)

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman At The Wall

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Woman At The Wall
A woman at the Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery

Woman At The Wall. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman at the Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery.

We were in Berlin for a few days last summer, as one stop on our 40-day sojourn through (mostly) Europe. Our routine is mostly to travel light — carryon only — and to walk a lot in every city we visit. In fact, once we arrive in a city, with few exceptions we either walk or occasionally take public transit to get where we want to go. In Berlin it was entirely a matter of walking.

On this day our walking loop took us past the East Side Gallery which, despite the name, is one of the few remaining sections of the old Berlin Wall. It became a sort of outdoor gallery when artists took over sections of the wall and created a wild display of street art. I wanted to photograph some of the work, but I didn’t want to just come back with photographs of someone else’s art so I decided to look for coincidences and juxtapositions between the images on the wall and the people who passed by.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Shirts, Wall

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Blue Shirts, Wall
Two men in blue shirts at the East Side Gallery, Berlin

Blue Shirts, Wall. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two men in blue shirts at the East Side Gallery, Berlin.

Berlin’s “East Side Gallery” is a section of the Berlin Wall — which has been entirely removed in almost all other areas — that was turned into a sort of street art exhibit, with all sorts of artists adopting sections of the wall and creating a kaleidoscope of wildly diverse imagery. We were in Berlin for a few days in 2018, and one day we walked over this direction.

I’m often a bit confused about how and even whether to photograph street art. One problem is that making photographs of the creative work of others feels a bit shallow at times. Another problem is that with some kinds of tagging that verge on vandalism, the photographer can feel complicit by sharing the tags more widely. (By the way, tagging is rampant in areas of Berlin that we visited, and some of the familiar American ground rules — such as not tagging homes — are regularly ignored there.) But sometimes photographing the work of others makes sense, and here I decided to mostly focus on the other people there to see the work. Once I did that I began to see a lot of striking coincidences and relationships — such as this pair of men wearing blue shirts and walking in front of this wildly detailed section of the wall.

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 | Facebook | Email

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

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