Tag Archives: bicycle

Photographs: Netherlands, Photographs: Urban/Street

Amsterdam, Rain

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Amsterdam, Rain
A rainy evening in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Rain. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A rainy evening in Amsterdam

This was my/our first visit to Amsterdam and the Netherlands. We started the day in London, where we caught a train to Amsterdam, arriving in the afternoon. Because the weather has often been quite warm — hot, even — in Europe this summer, I was expecting something similar here. It was not cold, but it wasn’t the same kind of hot weather we had in London and which we had later on in parts of Germany. I admit to having been a bit ignorant about the Amsterdam weather. I remarked to some locals we were eating with that I was surprised by the rain and they sort of laughed, pointing out that gray and wet is the norm here.

And, in fact, it was gray and wet when we made our first foray in to central Amsterdam from our hotel just outside the hubbub of the central area. We were hungry and looking for food, so off we went. A number of things struck this first-time Amsterdam visitor right away. First, everything you have heard about bicycles there is true — if anything, there are even more bikes than you thought. These aren’t American-style mountain and road bikes. They are sturdy “work” bikes that are used for the business of getting from place to place. Second, everything you have heard about the availability of marijuana here is also true. If you didn’t already know, don’t go to an Amsterdam “coffee shop” of you want coffee… I made this photograph as we walked this rainy street on our way to dinner.

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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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

From The Gallery Window

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From The Gallery Window
A San Francisco street scene viewed from the window of a photography gallery

From The Gallery Window. San Francisco, California. December 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A San Francisco street scene viewed from the window of a photography gallery

We came to this place more or less by chance. It was a somewhat lazy day for us — we had attended a concert the night before and stayed overnight near the venue. Since we had another concert coming up on the second evening we decided to not have any serious plans in the morning. We got up late and finally wandered down past City Hall, through a farmers market, and then headed down Market Street. At one point I happened to look across the street and see the sign for “SF Camerawork” above an unlikely looking storefront, so we walked across to take a look, noticed that it was scheduled to open in less than 10 minutes, and decided we would stick around and take a look.

It probably seems odd that I hadn’t ever visited before, especially since this organization has existed in the City for decades, but sometimes odd things happen. In any case, the door finally opened, we climbed the long and marrow stairway, and arrived to find them in the process if installing an upcoming show: Landmark: Yosemite Through The Lens of Contemporary Landscape Photography. Despite the unfinished state of the installation, they allowed us to poke around and see the work that was already hung. They had one of Jerry Uelsmann’s fantastical landscape, several of the Mark Klett & Byron Wolfe juxtapositions of classic photographs collaged with modern photos of the same locations, a few witty Ted Orland pieces, and more. The exhibition space itself is very nice — open and with good light — and at one point I wandered to one of the street-facing windows and took advantage of the upper story location to make a few photographs of the street below.

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: Italy, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman, Smoking Cyclist

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Woman, Smoking Cyclist
A woman walks into an alley past a smoking bicyclist, Florence/Firenze, Italy

Woman, Smoking Cyclist. Florence/Firenze, Italy. August 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks into an alley past a smoking bicyclist, Florence/Firenze, Italy

My impression, from about three days in Florence, is that this beautiful city is very much about tourism. (No surprise, right?) In the daytime, starting by mid-morning, and on into the evening it is a busy place, and most of the people seemed to me to have come from some other place. There are restaurants and shops all over the place and, of course, the folks selling trinkets in every square and along popular streets.

Occasionally I did manage to encounter scenes that seemed a bit less polished, especially when we went out early, avoided the most popular through routes,  and wandered into some of the narrower streets with fewer businesses. Here, in the morning, a fellow with a bicycle pauses to lean against a wall and smoke, and a woman in what I suspect could be so-called “traditional dress” of some sort furtively ducks into an even small side alley.

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: Italy, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Urban/Street

Taking a Break

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Taking a Break
Restaurant staff taking a break in a Florence alley

Taking a Break. Florence, Italy. August 28, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Restaurant staff taking a break in a Florence alley

The restaurant, just out of sight to the right of the edge of the frame, was nearly across the street from where we stayed for a couple of days in Florence, Italy, along a narrow street roughly between the Duomo and the Uffizi. A friend of ours who had been there before us mentioned it, and we thought about eating there — it looked interesting, but it also looked a bit like something we could see back home. But it continued to intrigue me, and I looked at it every time we walked past.

We were out for a walk on our last evening in Florence, and I was making a lot of night street photographs. The night utterly transforms the scenes — people behave differently, and the varied colors of light paint the walls of buildings. As we returned to the hotel we walked toward the restaurant and I saw a group of employees taking a break in the alley… and quickly photographed them before they returned to work.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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