Tag Archives: building

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

Criminal Courts Building

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Criminal Courts Building
North Entrance, Crimial Courts Building, Mahattan.

Criminal Courts Building. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

North Entrance, Crimial Courts Building, Mahattan.

This photograph comes from the same winter walk from Midtown to Lower Manhattan that I wrote about in another recent post. It was a somewhat unusual photographic walk, in that we had a specific appointment to make in Lower Manhattan just after sunset. With that in mind we were less able to follow our noses on this walk, and rather than pausing too much or taking little side journeys along the way, we progressed at a fairly regular rate to the south. This meant that I rarely had time to pause long to make photographs, aside from the occasional street light, so most of the photographs were made quickly, and I had only a short time to work any of the subjects. (In fact, we moved fast enough that I often did not have time to even take careful note of what I was photographing.)

As we passed this impressive Art Deco building in Lower Manhattan, the combination of angular stone faced, blue-toned evening light, and the contrasting warm yellow tones of interior light caught my attention. I was working quickly and using a fixed-focal length lens, so my compositional options were limited. I couldn’t photograph the entirety o the building, so I focused on this entrance area. It occurred to me later how profoundly the appearance of this scene is affected by light — a daytime photograph here would not be particularly dramatic, but there’s something a bit oppressive about the quality in this light.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue, White, and Shadow

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Blue, White, and Shadow
A shadow falls across a blue wall and white window.

Blue, White, and Shadow. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A shadow falls across a blue wall and white window.

Today’s photograph comes from yesterday on my (almost) daily neighborhood walk. Since the beginning of the pandemic and its attendant lock-down, we’ve been doing a lot of local walking, going out almost every day for walks ranging from as little as a mile (just got to get in my mile!) and up to perhaps ten times that distance. Yesterday’s walk was one of the shorter ones, and my initial plan was to “just get in my miles,” likely walking no more than about a mile. But one thing led to another and I ended up doing about several times that distance.

The unanticipated extensions of the walk often come in small increments. Arriving at a turning point, instead of taking the most direct route back home I decide to just add a bit more, heading down one more block. Often that leads to another extension, then another, and before I no it the miles add up. One of those unplanned extensions took me past an older building, once a home but now a small business. Something about the blue and white paint, the old, narrow siding, and the shadow draped across the way persuaded me to stop and make a photograph.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

World Headquarters

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World Headquarters
An abandoned building at the location of a future high tech center, San Jose, California.

World Headquarters. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building at the location of a future high tech center, San Jose, California.

You might have to look a bit past the superficial visual constituents of this image to see the world headquarters, but something close to that is coming to this location. Far enough from where I live that it is a very long walk, a major “tech giant” is beginning a long-term project to create a major urban campus. At this point about all one sees is a whole lot of empty lots and abandoned buildings, structures from a much earlier period in the history of this city — homes, small businesses, warehouses, and more. The plan is that a decade from now this will be some sort of ultra-modern, thriving technology center with access to transit and more. We’ll see.

For now though it can be a bit of a photographic playground if your interest includes old, abandoned places and things. I did not investigate closely enough to know what actually went on in this building, but it has the appearance of a small shop or light industrial facility — perhaps automobile repair, some kind of fabrication, or similar. Beyond these associations with an earlier time in this region, it also has the appeal of a nicely weathered look, and some interesting paint colors. On this day the light also proved interesting. In fact, if you look at this the right way, there are — or at least it seems to me — two structures on the scene. One comes from the square angles of the building itself and the other comes from the oblique and curving lines of light and shadow.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Abandoned, Rio Dell

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Abandoned, Rio Dell
An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

Abandoned, Rio Dell. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An abandoned building in the twon of Rio Dell, California.

On this last full day of our recent visit to the far Northern California coast we took a long drive through varied terrain out along a section of the so-called Lost Coast. While the mileage would have made for a one-hour urban drive on almost any California freeway (at least if it weren’t rush hour), the nature and condition of the roadway, along with the need to stop to look and make photographs, turned this into a full-day affair.

This is a very different California than what we see in the Bay Area, Southern California, or even the Central Valley for that matter. Most of the area is quite rural, and the effects of over a year of pandemic isolation are clear in small communities with many closed businesses. (Though a new business, one based on certain formerly-illegal agricultural products, seems to be thriving in some of the backwoods areas.) We came back to US 101, the main through-route, near here and decided to stop of coffee in the small town of Rio Dell. As we left town this building caught my eye. I’m guessing that it was originally a gas station before being turned into something else and then more or less abandoned. But what a paint job!

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 | 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.