Tag Archives: art

Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel

Door Knocker

Image Leave a comment
Door Knocker
Door knocker, Siena, Italy

Door knocker. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Door knocker, Siena, Italy

We had been to Siena once before — on a very quick day trip from the Chianti hills. Our time there was, literally, only hours. My recollection is that we parked, walked in from the west, headed to and then past Il Campo, briefly visited the front of the main cathedral, grabbed a bite to eat… and left. It was just enough to leave us very intrigued by what we saw and determined to go back and spend more time. On this 2023 visit we finally were able to do that, staying in the city long enough to explore.

There are lots of intriguing details in Siena, even by comparison to other places in Italy that share this attribute. I just happened to notice this door knocker — one of two on a matched pair of doors — as we walked up a narrow street. The figure is impressive, but almost seems more likely to scare away visitors than to encourage them to knock!

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: New York City

Mural, Caution Tape

Image Leave a comment
Mural, Caution Tape
Caution tape and a few cones witha giant street mural on the side of a brick building, Manhattan.

Mural, Caution Tape. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Caution tape and a few cones witha giant street mural on the side of a brick building, Manhattan.

I’m not sure how others see and react to murals like this one in Manhattan, but I respond in several different ways. Sometimes I just see them as what they are — essentially large paintings (or equivalents of painting) displayed outdoors — and I think of them as, essentially, not part of their surroundings but as things that stand alone. At other times I do see them in the context of their surroundings, and when I do the result can be carrying. This one feels more like the latter case to me.

The mural, by Emmanuel Jarus, is near the UN Building in midtown Manhattan. I think it is supposed to produce a sort of uplifting response in viewers, and I’m certainly fine with that. But I saw it more as an element in a complex scene of shapes and colors that includes the intrusion of the sunlit balconies at the right and the odd color and context juxtaposition with the “emergency colors” of the pylons in front of the two benches.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mural, Parking Lot

Image Leave a comment
Mural, Parking Lot
A large mural featuring two faces, above a Manhattan parking lot.

Mural, Parking Lot. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A large mural featuring two faces, above a Manhattan parking lot.

One of the things I like to do while making street photograph is look for odd, unusual juxtapositions. There are plenty of these in virtually any big city environment, since these places usually bring together a wide variety of people, activities, structures, and more. Street art and murals add another image element to the mix. There are some oddly disparate elements here: the two large figures, cars on lifts, and a couple of people at the lower left.

The mural on this building’s wall features two figures overlooking the street in a somewhat ominous manner. I don’t know the identity of the one on the right but the one on the left appears to be from Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” — which injects an interesting flavor into this street scene. There are other elements here that I find fascinating. I’ll leave most of them to viewers to discover, but that double vertical “dashed line” of windows is intriguing.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mural, Midtown Manhattan

Image Leave a comment
Mural, Midtown Manhattan
Pedestrians work in front of a building featuring a colorful OKUDART mural in midtown Manhattan.

Mural, Midtown Manhattan. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Pedestrians work in front of a building featuring a colorful OKUDART mural in midtown Manhattan.

Something fun to share today — a photograph of this spectacular mural-covered building in Midtown Manhattan, featuring the work of Spanish artist Okuda. It isn’t unusual for me to (selectively) include street art in my street photographs, especially when the work is interesting and fits into the larger street landscape. On the other hand, it sometimes feels a little odd to feature someone else’s art in my own photographic work. In this case, I think it is as much about an aspect of New York City as anything else… so I’m going with it.

I was initially photographing most people (and to a lesser extent buildings) as we walked around Manhattan this past August. I made several other photographs of people, often in crosswalks, as we passed through this area. But this building is so striking that I made a couple of exposures of it as I passed by. One thing leads to another, and later I looked up the building and the artist and discovered that Okuda has work all over the world.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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