Tag Archives: chinatown

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Barbershop, Manhattan

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Barbershop, Manhattan
Barbershop storefront in the Chinatown section of Manhattan

Barbershop, Manhattan. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Barbershop storefront in the Chinatown section of Manhattan

As I continue my somewhat binary posting pattern — street and urban photography one day, with nature, wildlife, and landscape the next — today I’m back in New York City, during out end-of-year December 2017 week spent there, visiting family, eating, walking, and doing photography. Oh, and freezing. We managed to arrive just before a bout of exceptionally cold weather — at least for these Californians — during which daytime temperatures didn’t always make it into the twenties. It didn’t snow until the final day, but it surely was cold enough.

The cold didn’t keep us indoors, though. We were out every day, walking through as much of Manhattan as we could. A typically walk started near our hotel at the end of Lower Manhattan and (if we didn’t get a head start on the subway) worked its way north along any of several paths. Eventually the cold and wind would become too much, and we would stop for coffee or food, then head back out. On one morning our uptown-bound route took us into the narrow streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown, a place I always like to see. (On our previous visit we stayed for a week on essentially the boundary between Chinatown and Little Italy.) Things here are often a bit ragged around the edges and it can be crowded, but there is plenty to see. The dense patterns of people walking the streets, the interiors of shops, the scenes on the sidewalks are all interesting.

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: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Office, Deconstructed

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The Office, Deconstructed
Abandoned and broken chairs abandoned on a Manhattan sidewalk

The Office, Deconstructed. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Abandoned and broken chairs abandoned on a Manhattan sidewalk

I’m no longer quite as surprised as I once was to see what finds its way to the sidewalks, curbs, and gutters in New York City. (I recently arrived at an understanding that people in such places focus more on the quality of their home environments and less on the public environment — beautiful, comfortably designed and equipped homes are found inside buildings that, from a certain perspective, look like dumps from the outside.) If you think about how many people live and work there, it boggles the mind to consider how much stuff flows in and out of the place, including an awful lot of stuff that simply needs to be discarded.

When I walked past this spot, located in an area of very narrow and twisting streets (which should narrow it down for New Yorkers), this particular pile caught my attention. Broken office chairs were piled on the sidewalk, completely blocking it. Nearby were a few other things we might associate with work/office: abandoned coffee cups, an empty cigarette carton. Heck, in a way you might even say there is a “corner” window. Of course, I noted other things, too: the angular and geometric forms of roll-up door, tiled wall, and the strange triangle near the top, plus the soft and blue light in this narrow spot where sun rarely shines, especially in the winter.

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.

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

Noodle Shop

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Noodle Shop
A single nighttime diner in a Manhattan noodle shop on a dark street

Noodle Shop. New York City. July 6, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A single nighttime diner in a Manhattan noodle shop on a dark street

I suppose it is because I plan to be there again soon, but I’ve been going back through some earlier photographs from New York City this week, and especially focusing on photographs I made at night there last July. While staying in a busy part of the city (yeah, I know, all the parts are busy…) where there are lots of small business and lots of people I managed to get out frequently and wander with my camera. Most of the neighborhood tended to be quite crowded and busy, with lots of light. However, a few of the side streets included quieter spots where there were no crowds, especially late at night, including this street where there was only one person still eating in this noodle shop.

With photographs like this, especially when rendered in black and white, there is a lot of creative latitude when it comes to deciding how to interpret the scene. I’m generally not a big fan — with some exceptions — of allowing highlights to completely blow out, so the brightly lit areas set a sort of limit on how light I can go. I want to see at least some detail in almost all areas of the photograph, even in the deep shadows, so I often have to do some careful work during the post processing stages to get what I want from these dark area. It is tricky — too dark and all detail is lost, but too light and the shadows end up gray and the mystery is gone. In this photograph I wanted most of the image to feel very dark, with only the three brightly lit areas standing out.

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.

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

Five Brothers Fat Enterprise

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Five Brothers Fat Enterprise
A business at the edge of Chinatown, Manhattan

Five Brothers Fat Enterprise. New York City. July 3, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A business at the edge of Chinatown, Manhattan

In early July we spent a week in New York City, visiting relatives, wandering around the city, seeing a few museums, and eating a lot of good food. Oh, and making photographs. We stayed in a small hotel in the area more or less dividing Little Italy from Chinatown, and there was a lot to observe right in the neighborhood, night and day.

If I recall, on this morning we may have been out looking for a place to grab breakfast, or possibly we were staring out on a walk to a further destination. I was in street photographer mode, with my small camera out and at the ready, when we walked past this complex little scene, with the interesting graffiti covered “enterprise,” the man sitting inside, and the fellow in the cross walk waiting to cross the street.

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.