Tag Archives: brick

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel

Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2

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Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2
A nearly bare tree with autumn leaves and a brick wall, High Line Park, Manhattan.

Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A nearly bare tree with autumn leaves and a brick wall, High Line Park, Manhattan.

This photograph is another on the theme of end-of-autumn trees and brick walls — of course, in Manhattan. The previous photograph in this series featured a much starker contrast between the dark wall and three white tree trunks. This one is more subtle, with darker and thinner branches that don’t stand out as clearly. This tree has only a few remaining colorful leaves, and I suspect that they, too, were gone soon after I made the photograph.

We tend to think of Manhattan as a purely urban place — and that impression isn’t far off the mark in many ways. But there are bits of the natural world here and there, and sometimes I think that their scarcity and the contrast with the surrounding engineered world makes them more poignant. This photograph comes from our November walk along the High Line Park.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall

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Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall
Three white-trunk autumn trees in front of a brick wall at High Line Park, Manhattan.

Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three white-trunk autumn trees in front of a brick wall at High Line Park, Manhattan.

On one of the days of our recent New York City trip we took a very long walk. We started at our hotel west of Central Park, roughly around the Natural History Museum, and headed south. Our first goal was the Hudson Yards complex, which we had not visited since it was under construction. Full of energy after a lunch stop there, we decided to keep going. We picked up the High Line Park walkway here and eventually ended up all the way down at the Whitney Museum.

The High Line Park is always fascinating. It is built on the right-of-way of the elevated railway that once ran along this side of Manhattan. I’m not aware of any park quite like it. In places it might be as narrow as a dozen feet wide, but its length makes up for what it lacks in width. Its elevated path takes you between buildings, across busy streets, underneath one hotel, and more. Along the walk there is plentiful vegetation – grasses, flowers, trees. The contrast between the regular form of the dark brick wall and the bright, fluid forms of these autumn tree trunks caught my eye.

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: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Ivy-Covered Wall

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Ivy-Covered Wall
Thick, green ivey covers and old brick wall.

Ivy-Covered Wall. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Thick, green ivey covers and old brick wall.

I am a sucker for soft light and green leaves, especially if the light is somewhat varied and the leaves have a bit of texture and good coverage. This bit of ivy, covering a wall at a San Francisco Peninsula garden, fit the bill. It was tucked away on the shady side of building, with trees overhead, but some slightly more intense light coming from behind me through openings in trees.

I’m often tricked by subjects like this one. When I see a bed or wall of overlapping leaves it often seems like I could just point the camera that way and produce some kind of picture. But when I do and I look more carefully, there are almost always little bits of imperfection and unbalance that distract me… and I end up taking much longer with these subjects than I expect to.

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

Photographs: Structures and Objects

Switch Box

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Switch Box
An old, weathered outdoor switch box on a brick wall.

Switch Box. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

An old, weathered outdoor switch box on a brick wall.

Ever since I can remember I have photographed odd bits of “stuff” like this — old fences, door handles and hinges, electrical boxes, anything that has the worn patina of age, rust, and weathering. The first time I recall doing this must have been in middle school or early high school — I went around the back side of my parents’ house and found an old wooden fence with a chain lock, photographed it, and made black and white prints.

On the day I made this photograph we were at a very large garden, with the plan being to photograph spring flowers and foliage. We certainly did that, but I’m easily distracted by things like this, and I came back with this photograph along with others of old signs, door knobs, windows, and similar non-garden stuff.

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.

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