Tag Archives: chinatown

Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Boba Tea Shop, Night

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Boba Tea Shop, Night
A San Francisco Chinatown Boba Tea shot at night.

Boba Tea Shop, Night. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A San Francisco Chinatown Boba Tea shot at night.

This is another San Francisco night street photography photograph, made possible by the advent of very good, very small digital cameras that can now make good images in very dark conditions. Places like this one, with narrow streets, bright interiors, and a fair amount of ambient light from business signs, become viable subjects for the photographers working with handheld cameras and no electronic flash. In this sort of photography I often work quickly, pausing only long enough to frame up an interesting urban landscape and look for people to populate it.

As a person who frequently photographs on foot in San Francisco and who has lived reasonably close to The City for decades, I know some parts of San Francisco pretty well at this point. I’m frequently in and around Chinatown when I’m up there — because a friend suggests it, because I pass through on my way to another destination, or because it is my destination. For the most part I eschew the busy, commercialized stretch of Grant Street that most think of when they hear “Chinatown” in San Francisco. But at night it becomes more interesting to me, and the larger number and variety of ambient light sources are both interesting and helpful. The bright interior of this shop contrasts with the dark world on the sidewalk, and it is hard for me to say what is actually going on in the shop.

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: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Three Women, Grant Street

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Three Women, Grant Street
Three women stand in front of a Grant Street storefront at night, San Francisco.

Three Women, Grant Street. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three women stand in front of a Grant Street storefront at night, San Francisco.

At this point I’m not sure I recall the exact circumstances that had me in this part of San Francisco after dark, but from the group of photographs that I have in my archive I can tell that I had made my way to the Chinatown district by evening, and after photographing there headed south past the Moscone Center, all of which suggests I had gone up there and back on the train. Taking the train to San Francisco for a day of street photography has long been a favorite activity, though I think it has now been about two years since the last attempt, aside from a few brief forays when I was up there this past fall for a couple of shows.

This San Francisco district, and others like it, are great places to photograph after dark, especially if you can work quickly, in street photography style, using a small handheld camera. There is often a fair amount of light from the combined sources of street lights, passing traffic, and the often-colorful lights spilling from commercial storefronts. With a small camera, especially at night, I can photograph without being so obvious that I intrude on the scene myself. One theme in my night street photography is people doing seemingly unusual things in a very normal human fashion. This appears to be a group of three friends passing through this area, but pausing to look in an unusual direction for just a moment.

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: Abstract, Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Balloons

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Balloons
Night photography in San Francisco

Balloons. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography in San Francisco.

On a summer evening back in 2015 a group of photographers met up on San Francisco for night of street photography. Actually, we began in the very late afternoon, paused for a group dinner before sunset, and then emerged from dinner before dark and began wandering through areas around the Chinatown district, looking for subjects and light.

I love to photograph the urban landscape at night, using handheld cameras and working quickly in street photography style. The particular location on this evening was a group decision, but any place with narrow streets, lots of shops open at night, and light spilling onto the sidewalks works for me. I photographed these balloons in a shop window, using a longer shutter speed and playing with motion blur.

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

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Photographs: Night, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Closing Time

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Closing Time
A woman places boards over the windows of a business at night.

Closing Time. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman places boards over the windows of a business at night.

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these night photography shoots in San Francisco. A few years ago a group of us would get together once per year or so in the late afternoon, photograph in early evening light, typically go somewhere for dinner, and then head back out to photograph at night. We frequently ended up in Chinatown, perhaps because the lights and narrower streets are conducive to photography after dark.

This photograph comes from one of those excursions back in 2015. Since around that time — perhaps a few years earlier — it occurred to me that since I live close to San Francisco and regularly visit New York that I could do a little project around photographing in Chinatown districts of both cities. They are both fascinating places, both draw tourists (though in different ways), and both have a non-tourist life that is even more fascinating. (I see this photograph a bit differently in the wake of the pandemic.)

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 | 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.