Tag Archives: cars

Photographs: Scotland, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Ways

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Ways
“Ways” — A graffiti-filled side alley in Glasgow, Scotland.

We visited a number of Scottish towns and cities, ranging from small villages where we were lodged during our Great Glen Way trek up to the urban centers of Edinburgh and Glasgow. We were actually in Glasgow twice. Our (long!) flight from the West Coast of the USA (in two segments) terminated in Glasgow, so we had made arrangements to walk the short distance from the terminal to the closest hotel and fall asleep. The next morning we took a shuttle into Glasgow to catch a trail to Oban, and while waiting we walked just a bit around downtown. But it wasn’t until we returned a couple of weeks later that we had a chance to explore this city.

We liked Glasgow even more than we expected to. We had read various things about the city — some suggested that it was more mundane than its bigger neighbor Edinburgh, but others touted its charm, quirkiness, “workaday” quality, and street art. In the end, we ended up agreeing with the latter reaction. There’s plenty to see and do there, but it doesn’t have the same tourist pressure that we saw in Edinburgh. I made this photograph near the end of a very long walk we took one day. Perhaps it doesn’t quite illustrate the point I’m trying to make about the town, but it was a fascinating little alley off of one of the main thoroughfares.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mural, Parking Lot

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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.

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Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Too Many Layers

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Too Many Layers
Multiple layers of reflections produce a complex whole.

Too Many Layers. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Multiple layers of reflections produce a complex whole.

The urban landscape can be quite complex and even deceptive. I think that we imagine it to be the most rational of landscapes, where everything is objectively “real” and describable. But when you begin to look more closely, if frequently isn’t quite what it seems to be. The surfaces of things are often elusive, and you may find yourself looking more at the reflections of other things than at the object you think you are viewing.

It is somewhat difficult to make sense of this image at all once you start looking closely. There are, obviously, things from the street — parts of automobiles, a bit of a crosswalk. But nothing in this scene is viewed directly — everything is a reflect, or a reflection of a reflection, or a reflection viewed through another reflection.

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: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Formerly Bob’s Auto Service

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Formerly Bob's Auto Service
A downtown garage in San Francisco

Formerly Bob’s Auto Service. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A downtown garage in San Francisco

I often walk past this business when I take the train to San Francisco to do street photography. My typical circuit has me doing some sort of walking loop to the north from the train station and then back by a different route. This shop is on a very busy intersection, squeezed into a small space. It looks like it has been there forever, and there is empirical evidence of this if you look closely.

These places fascinate me for a whole bunch or reasons which range from purely visual to questions about the story that might lie behind them. Visually, I’m challenged by trying to see some kind of shape and order in urban chaos, but I also like the sometimes wild layers of color on business that use it to gain visibility. In addition, especially on individual businesses that have been in a location for a while, elements appear that reflect ownership and/or management by individuals — as differentiated from the slick and ultimately uniform appearance of chains and be businesses. Here I love the hand-painted blue letters across the top of the building — they are not up to the “standards” of contemporary design, but they reflect someone’s great care in producing them. Below that, on the yellow panel above the garage, you can look closely and see the painted-out words that I used for the title of this photograph.

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