Tag Archives: city

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan

Image Leave a comment
Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan
Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan.

At about this time two years ago, near the end of the Before Times, we were in New York City for the holidays. It was a trip much like previous visits there — we mingled in gigantic crowds, walked almost everywhere, occasionally froze in very un-California weather, ate in packed restaurants, and did pretty much all of the things one does in a busy, crowded, and intense place like New York. Although we had no idea at the time — the first news of the oncoming pandemic had still not arrived — this would be the last big trip like this for years.

I mentioned above that we walk a lot in Manhattan. Those who don’t know the place are, it seems, often surprised to find that almost everyone there walks, residents and visitors alike. Certainly part of the reason is that it is not a friendly place to drivers. But it also really is a friendly place to walkers, despite what you might think. We always wander around on foot a lot when we visit, and even in winter we’ll sometimes walk long distances. This was one of those days. We started in more or less Midtown and then headed south all the way to Lower Manhattan below the City Hall area, where we met family members. Close to our destination we passed this scene at a subway entrance near City Hall as the day was ending and evening lights were appearing.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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

Waiting For Transit

Image Leave a comment
Waiting For Transit
People await their ride at a San Francisco light rail station.

Waiting For Transit. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People await their ride at a San Francisco light rail station.

Perhaps you already knew that I made this photograph a few years ago — it is in San Francisco, it is at a transit stop… and no one is wearing a mask! You wouldn’t find that combination today. (That’s one reason that the San Francisco Bay Area has among the lowest infection rates in the country, but I digress…) I made the photograph on one of my photography days in San Francisco, which tend to follow a familiar pattern: Up well before dawn, catch a train to the City, arrive around sunrise, spend the morning wandering on foot and photography, then take the train back home my mid-afternoon. San Francisco is a very walkable city, and you can cover a lot of ground there on foot.

Recently I had the pleasure of giving a talk on street photography to a somewhat surprising group, the photography section of the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club. That’s not your typical topic for this group, and I was aware that there might be some skeptics. My premise is that doing street photography (and other kinds of not-nature photography) can make you a better photographer, and that the benefits can accrue to your nature photography, too. I can’t recreate the entire talk here, but this photograph embodies a few key ideas. First, it takes advantage of a very local photographic opportunity, so I can photograph even when I can’t travel to lovely, far away, natural places. Second, it treats the street as a kind of urban landscape, occupied by “human wildlife.” In fact, I often construct photographs like this one by first finding the “landscape” and then waiting for passers-by to populate it. Third (and final for now) photographing these local subjects is good “practice” that keeps my ability to see photographically tuned up.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Shadow and Wall

Image Leave a comment
Shadow and Wall
“Shadow and Wall” — The ephemeral shadow of a passing figure on a wall in Manhattan.

One evening in Manhattan, we were out for a walk along the high Line Park. As always, I was carrying a camera. (Yes, I think I drive my family crazy that way.) I’ve been there a number of times, and I’m usually intrigued by the buildings that line this park — their textures, their windows and rooftops, the glimpses of what goes on in them as the life of the park moves past. I think I was trying to think of a way to photograph the texture of this concrete wall when I came upon this bit of light coming across the walkway and casting shadows.

It is hard to recall too many more specifics of the scene, though I have a series of perhaps a half dozen or more photographs, made as various people moved through the lower part of the scene or, more accurately, their vague shadows moved through the scene. When people ask what sort of camera I carry to places like this, my answer is that it is usually a small camera equipped with small prime lenses. This photograph perhaps illustrates why that is. I can always have such a camera with me, I can use it quickly and without much fuss, and it even works in very low light.

COMMENT OR QUESTION? Scroll down to the comment form.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

People Standing By Window

Image Leave a comment
People Standing By Window
Two people stand against a dark wall next to a window, Museum of Modern Art.

People Standing By Window. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two people stand against a dark wall next to a window, Museum of Modern Art.

This photograph comes from a Manhattan visit a few years back. We usually are there for at least a week each year — though we have not been back since before the start of the pandemic. We miss the place! We have some traditions when it comes to these visits. One is to indulge me in a lot of “museum time.” (The amount of time I’m willing to spend in such places occasionally makes me the butt of family jokes.) We visited the Museum of Modern Art on this visit, and the photograph comes from there.

I’m often a bit surprised — though by how you’d think I would not be — by how interesting I find museums as photographic spaces. They are full of interesting and sometimes unusual architecture, and they are often designed to incorporate a lot of investing lighting, especially natural lighting. In many cases there is some sort of central atrium or similar that creates a tall, vertical open area… and that provides some wild and off-kilter angles of subjects that would look quite different if photographed on their own level. Here a pair of people stands at the base of a stairway, positioned in the angle between a nearly-black wall and a window.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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